Clúdach: Cover

The covers of New Hibernia Review’s twenty-second volume will again feature prints by artists associated with the Graphic Studio Gallery, located on Cope Street in Dublin’s Temple Bar. Each of the four issues this year will offer an image of trees and woods.

The first of these covers is a detail from Robert Russell’s “Fire Over Phoenix Park,” an etching and aquatint. The image measures 34 × 54 cm, on paper 53 × 69 cm. Somber in mood, color, and subject matter, Russell employs atmospheric perspective to create space; the composition is nearly symmetrical, and yet the print does not give the sense of calm that generally comes with symmetry. Intriguingly, the background colors have an undulant, almost textile-like quality, as if on a flag or an unfurled bolt of fabric—a subtle contrast with the stern verticals of the bare trees in the foreground.

Born in Dublin, Robert Russell entered Dún Laoghaire College of Art and Design in 1979, where he specialized in sculpture, but also worked in print and painting, winning the Taylor Art Competition for painting in 1980. He received the Alfred Beit Award and the Norah McGuinness Award before graduating in 1983. He joined Graphic Studio Gallery in 1989, and currently serves as studio director. In 1999 the Chester Beatty Library commissioned him to make an etching, a woodblock print, and an engraving to demonstrate printmaking techniques for a video displayed in the library. They also acquired one of his mezzotints for their permanent collection. His exhibitions include a solo show at Graphic Studio Gallery, Art into Art at the National Gallery of Ireland, Holy Show at the Chester Beatty Library, Ireland, and the Print Exchange, Paris. He also exhibited at the RHA Banquet Show as guest of Patrick Hickey.

We thank the artist, as well as the Graphic Studio Gallery (and especially its director, Peter Brennan) for kind permission to reproduce this work. We urge our readers to visit the gallery’s impressive website at https://graphicstudiodublin.com/.