John and Neillí, Albert and Eileen

Needing to get some fresh air on Friday, I walked to Collins Barracks, where the decorative arts and history collections of the National Museum are displayed. My intention was to go straight to the new Albert Bender gallery, but I was diverted along the way. First distraction was the sound of singing when I got to the first floor landing. I followed the sound to a small gallery dedicated to Count John McCormack. (I remember as a child being very confused that there was an Irishman who was also a count. In my mind, counts were strictly confined to fairy tales and foreign parts – they certainly didn’t come from Athlone.)

The gallery is small and the interpretation straight-forward: text describes McCormack’s life, from Athlone to the opera houses of Europe, most notably Covent Garden where he was the youngest principal tenor in its history. (Oh, and if you’re still wondering, he was made a Papal Count by Pope Pius XI for services to charity). But there were some nice touches, like the velvet curtain at the back of the display case and the upholstered bench in the centre of the room.

And best of all, recordings of McCormack singing, reminding me that often the best interpretation is the simplest. Especially for Luiseach, here’s the Count himself singing The Star of the County Down.

I left John McCormack and my attention was caught by a sign reading ‘Irish Haute Couture of the ‘50s and ‘60s.’ But what could this be? It turned out to be a special exhibition about Neillí Mulcahy, an Irish couturier best known for designing uniforms for Aer Lingus. The exhibition was charming – helped by the beautiful things on display, yes. But I also liked, very much, the additions to the displays of fabric, dress making paraphernalia, sketches and order books. There were also films of shows and insights into the working life of a model in Ireland in the 1960s (top wage was six guineas an hour.)

The hostess outfits amused me: this one at least looks wearable,

Unlike this full length jumper….

But this two-piece evening ensemble was my favourite.

With two very pleasant encounters behind me, I bounded up the stairs and into the Albert Bender exhibition. Subtitled ‘A Dubliner’s Collection of Asian Art’, the exhibition features some of the objets d’art donated to the National Museum by Bender, a Dublin-born, San-Francisco based collector. Sad to say, I was left feeling underwhelmed by the exhibition. The graphics in the introductory space felt flat, with too much text and – horror of horrors – multiple timelines.

The main gallery was better – the Chinese lacquer red is an excellent choice for the walls.

But while design should never overwhelm the objects on display, this was just a bit ... blah. Maybe it was the over-reliance on text (small) and graphics for interpretation. The rare and beautiful Tibetan Thangkas (Buddhist paintings on cotton) at the centre of the exhibition needed a better frame.

Prompted by the trip to Le Corbusier’s Cite Radieuse last October, I finished off my visit with a look into the Eileen Gray gallery. Gray was a contemporary and sometime collaborator of Le Corbusier’s. I love her lacquered furniture and attention to detail. I also appreciated the attention to detail in the design of the exhibition, from the French phrases on the floor,

To the nods to the modernist preoccupation with geometry.

So there you are – four encounters, three good, one ho-hum. In the past I’ve been frustrated by the National Museum’s presentation and thought that they could use infinitely more flair. But if I were a teacher, this is where I would write on the Museum’s report card: keep up the good work.