Portrait of James Geiran

John F. Kelly , Irish, 1921-1995

Title

Date1981

MediumOil on canvas

Signedlower right: John F. Kelly '81

Credit LinePresented, the Geiran family, 2015

Object numberNGI.2015.34

DescriptionJim Geiran was employed as an attendant at the NGI in 1948 at the age of twenty-five. He remained on the staff for some thirty-eight years, ascending to the position of Head Attendant, and lived on the premises with his wife and seven children, two of whom were born there. In a letter to Geiran on his retirement in 1986, former Director James White wrote that "by the fact that you were always there, day and night, you gave [the Gallery] an air of homeliness and a feeling of warmth and your friendliness and readiness to help were an invaluable part in the creation of that atmosphere for which the Gallery became noted". This painting, which featured in the RHA annual exhibition in 1981, hung above Geiran's own fireplace for many years.
Exhibition HistoryRHA Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, 1981