Lars Nyberg
, Swedish, b.1956
Title
Guild Street, Michael Galligan & SonDate2000
MediumDrypoint on paper
Dimensions
Plate: 16.6 × 15 cm
Sheet: 37.5 × 28.5 cm
Credit LinePresented, 2023
Object numberNGI.2023.41
DescriptionThis is one of 27 drypoints gifted to the collection by Swedish printmaker Lars Nyberg. The prints depict a variety of subjects: street scenes, winter trees and abstract architectural features. Each image is infused with silence, emptiness and a sense of calm. The Dublin prints were begun while Nyberg was working at Graphic Studio Dublin’s premises at Green Street East in the 1990s. They depict the Dublin docklands (mainly Grand Canal and Spencer Dock) before its redevelopment. Eleven record parts of inner city Dublin including buildings in Parnell Street, Gardiner Street and Mountjoy Square. Five of the prints depict wintry trees and paths in rural Mayo and were inspired by his residency at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ballycastle in 2000. The date noted is the year the plate was finished, but often he began work on a plate many years earlier. He explained his method of working: ‘I made a lot of sketches and took a lot of photos so I could remember details. I never draw or scratch after photos, the idea, the ‘feeling’, will die in a way then. For me, making art involves waiting, I look upon a proof or a drawing, thinking and waiting for the idea, the feeling, to ‘develop’. Taking time for an idea to mature. I always print my copperplates myself and I use a simple steel needle for the drypoint works.’ The story behind the print, in the artist’s own words, was written in February 2024.
In late November 1989 or 1990 I was walking around to the east of Connolly Station when I came to Guild Street. The bar was open yet the buildings around it had been demolished. The bar was like a rock in the darkness, a solitaire. Inside it was like a fortress, iron sheets and iron bars over windows. Friendly barman and Christmas decorations all over. I walked by and into the building over many years, taking photos and making lots of sketches. Sunday was the best day for observing, silent and empty. I started on the drypoint many years later and finished the copperplate in 2000.