Vera Klute
, German, b.1981
Title
Garry Hynes (b.1953), Theatre Director, Co-founder of Druid TheatreDate2017
MediumPorcelain and concrete on bespoke timber plinth
Dimensions
164 x 54 x 46 cm
Credit LineCommissioned, National Gallery of Ireland, as part of the Hennessy Portrait Prize, 2015
Object numberNGI.2017.1
DescriptionBorn in Ballaghadereen, Co. Roscommon, Garry Hynes moved with her family to Galway in 1965. Upon leaving University College Galway in 1975, she co-founded Druid with Marie Mullen and Mick Lally. She served as the company’s Artistic Director from 1975 to 1991, and has held that position from 1995 to date. In the interim period, she was Artistic Director of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, and has also collaborated with, among others, the Gate Theatre, Dublin, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court, the Manhattan Theatre Club, New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. In 1998 she became the first woman to receive a TONY Award for her direction of Martin McDonough’s 'Beauty Queen of Leenane'. She has received many other awards and honorary degrees, and is an honorary member of the Royal Hibernian Academy.A graduate of Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology who works in various media, Vera Klute has held solo shows both in Ireland and abroad and has received several awards. In 2014, she was commissioned by the National Gallery of Ireland to produce a portrait of Sr Stanislaus Kennedy.
ProvenanceCommissioned, National Gallery of Ireland, as part of the Hennessy Portrait Prize, 2015Exhibition HistoryVera Klute: Plunge, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, 7 September - 23 October 2017
Label TextGarry Hynes co-founded Druid in Galway with Marie Mullen and Mick Lally in 1975. She served as the company’s Artistic Director from then until 1991, and has held the position from 1995 to date. She was also Artistic Director of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, and has collaborated with companies in Ireland, the UK and the United States. In 1998 she became the first woman to receive a TONY Award for her direction of Martin McDonough’s Beauty Queen of Leenane, and has received many other awards and honorary degrees.