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The Niland Collection, (which is the Sligo Municipal
Art Collection),
is housed and cared for by The Model. It is regularly displayed
in The Model’s Niland and West Galleries. The collection is named
after one of Sligo's most dedicated and hard working citizens;
Nora Niland. In the 1950s, Nora was instrumental in establishing
the Sligo Municipal Art Collection, which today bears her name.
As county librarian Nora spotted the importance of the connection between Sligo
and the Yeats family. Soon she hit upon the idea of borrowing five works by Jack
B. Yeats, to exhibit for the duration of the first Yeats Summer School in 1959. These
works consisted of three large oil paintings, Communicating with Prisoners, The
Funeral of Harry Boland, and The Island Funeral, along with two smaller watercolours,
Market Day, and The Star Gazer.
Over the course of the exhibition, Niland came to believe that these paintings
would make a great permanent addition to the cultural hub of Sligo, and set about
raising the £3,000 needed to purchase them.
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Although it took her two years, Niland's
dogged determination ensured that the paintings remained
in Sligo and formed the nucleus of what has now become
The Niland Collection. Niland went on to add more of
Yeats' work, and that of his father and sister, to the
collection making it one of the most significant collections
of Yeats work in Ireland, many of which record experiences
and memories of his time living in Sligo and its environs.
During her tenure Niland also added several other important artists to the collection,
all of whom had connections to Sligo and the West of Ireland, such as Paul Henry,
Estella Solomons, Sean Keating, Patrick Collins, George Æ Russell and Louis
le Brocquy among others. The collection is available, by application, for scholarly
research.
For any queries on the collection please email Assistant Curator Emer McGarry
at emer.mcgarry@modelart.ie
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