Audrey Whitty | |
---|---|
Director, National Library of Ireland | |
Assumed office February 2023 [1] | |
Preceded by | Sandra Collins,with an acting director between |
Personal details | |
Education | University College Dublin (B.A.,M.A.) Trinity College Dublin (Ph.D.) |
Occupation | Librarian,curator |
Audrey Whitty (born May 1977) is an Irish archaeologist,librarian and curator. As of February 2023, [1] she is the director of the National Library of Ireland. [2] She was deputy director of the National Museum of Ireland (NMI),a curator at the Corning Museum of Glass and a curator of glass and ceramics at the NMI. [3]
Whitty is one of the three children of Eileen (née Stack) and Richard Whitty. [4] She studied at University College Dublin,where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in History and Archaeology,and a Masters in Archaeology. [5]
Whitty worked for the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) from 2001. She was curator of the ceramics,glass and Asian collections,in the Art and Industrial Division of the museum. [3] While working with the museum,she was awarded a doctorate in the History of Art by Trinity College Dublin,and her thesis about the donations of Albert Bender to the National Museum was published as a book in 2011. [5] [6] Bender had given a significant collection to the museum in memory of his mother but for many years there was no space to display it,and Whitty was involved in the re-establishment of a public exhibition of much of the Bender collection. [7]
In 2013,taking a career break,she [8] went to work for the Corning Museum of Glass in New York state,as curator of European and Asian Glass. She returned to Ireland,and the NMI,in 2015,as Keeper (Head) of the Art and Industrial Division,dealing with decorative arts,design and history. [3]
In 2019,she was promoted to head all collections and educational operations of the National Museum,and in 2021,she was appointed as its deputy director. [5] [9] Whitty was involved in the decision to remove Michael Collins' bloodied cap from display as it involved the exhibition of human remains. [10] [11] She curated the exhibition (A)Dressing Our Hidden Truths about the scandalous mother and baby homes and Magdalene laundries [12] [13] where thousands of children died. [14]
Whitty was designated as the new director of the National Library of Ireland. [15] [16] She took up that office in February 2023, [1] for a five-year term. [15]
Whitty was elected to the board of the Irish Museums Association in 2018,and has been chairperson since 2020. [3] Whitty is a trustee of the Stourbridge Glass Museum, [17] and was from 2020 until February 2023 [18] a member of the board of North Lands Creative,a "centre for the study and development of glass as an artform" in Caithness,Scotland. [19]
Whitty has more than 70 publications,including a book,a book chapter and a peer-reviewed journal article:
while other publications and contributions include:
Whitty is married, with at least one daughter. [25]
The National Museum of Ireland is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has three branches in Dublin, the archaeology and natural history museums adjacent on Kildare Street and Merrion Square, and a newer Decorative Arts and History branch at the former Collins Barracks, and the Country Life museum in County Mayo.
The National Library of Ireland is the Republic of Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The mission of the National Library of Ireland is "To collect, preserve, promote and make accessible the documentary and intellectual record of the life of Ireland and to contribute to the provision of access to the larger universe of recorded knowledge."
The National Museum of Ireland – Natural History, sometimes called the Dead Zoo, a branch of the National Museum of Ireland, is housed on Merrion Street in Dublin, Ireland. The museum was built in 1856 for parts of the collection of the Royal Dublin Society and the building and collection were later passed to the State.
Frederick Carder was a glassmaker, glass designer, and glass artist who was active in the glass industry in both England and the United States, notably for Stevens & Williams and Steuben, respectively. Known for his experimentation with form and color, Carder's work remains popular among collectors and can be found in numerous museum collections, including The Corning Museum of Glass, which houses the Frederick Carder Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, and the Detroit Institute of Arts. He was born in Staffordshire, England, and died in Corning, New York, where he had made his home since 1903.
The Irish Museums Association (IMA) is an all-Ireland professional membership body dedicated to the promotion and development of museums.
The Corning Museum of Glass is a museum in Corning, New York in the United States, dedicated to the art, history, and science of glass. It was founded in 1951 by Corning Glass Works and currently has a collection of more than 50,000 glass objects, some over 3,500 years old.
Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová were contemporary artists. Their works are included in many major modern art collections, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Adolf Mahr was an Austrian archaeologist, who served as director of the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin in the 1930s, and is credited with advancing the work of the museum substantially. Through his leadership of the Dublin Nazi chapter, and later broadcasting propaganda from Germany, he became a highly controversial figure in twentieth-century Irish history, and was not allowed to return to his job after the Second World War.
Albert Maurice Bender was a German-American art collector who was one of the leading patrons of the arts in San Francisco in the 1920s and 1930s. He played a key role in the early career of Ansel Adams and was one of Diego Rivera's first American patrons. By providing financial assistance to artists, writers, and institutions, he had a significant impact on the cultural development of the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.
The National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History is a branch of the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) located at the former Collins Barracks in the Arbour Hill area of Dublin, Ireland.
Alison Kinnaird MBE, MA, FGE is a glass sculptor, Celtic musician, teacher and writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is one of the foremost and most original modern glass engravers in Scotland.
Marcus Notley is an Irish product designer specializing in designing consumer products for the home. He designed Ireland's largest crystal chandelier for the Merchant Hotel in Belfast.
Wilhelmina Weber Furlong (1878–1962) was a German American artist and teacher.
David Bryn Whitehouse, FSA, FRGS was a British archaeologist and senior scholar of the Corning Museum of Glass. He was director of the British School at Rome between 1974 and 1984.
Catherine Amelia "Kitty" O'Brien was an Irish stained glass artist, and a member and director of An Túr Gloine.
Kathleen Cox was an Irish artist, sculptor, and mystic. Cox is considered a pioneer of contemporary Irish pottery.
The glass sea creatures are works of glass artists Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka. The artistic predecessors of the Glass Flowers, the sea creatures were the output of the Blaschkas' successful mail-order business of supplying museums and private collectors around the world with sets of glass models of marine invertebrates.
Mairéad Dunlevy, was a museum curator and Irish costume expert.
Siobhan Healy is a Scottish artist and designer of glass art and goldsmithing. Her work is held in the collections of The Scottish Parliament Art Collection, Harvard Museum of Natural History/Herbarium, Glasmuseum Lette, Germany, The Heritage Collection, Clackmannanshire Council, UK and the Perth Museum and Art Gallery, UK.
Barbara Dawson is an Irish author, editor, art historian, gallery director, and curator. She is curator of several art exhibitions including the works of notable artists such as Francis Bacon (2009).