The Poetry of Vision ― The Rosc Art Exhibitions 1967-1988

The Poetry of Vision is the first book to deal with the history of the most influential series of art exhibition to take place in Ireland during the twentieth century. Conceived by Ireland's leading Modernist architect Michael Scott, Ireland was to play host to a major international exhibition every four years in which the Irish art scene - the establishment and the many artists who could ill-afford a trip to continental Europe - was to come into contact with international contemporary art and combat the conservative and dying academicism which rejected avant-garde developments in art. The project was rooted in idealism, but quickly - and consistently - marked mass controversy, reflecting an Irish State that struggled to see itself renewed following the post-war depression of the 1950s. Beyond the uproar, there was the art itself. Rosc continually acted as the main conduit to the Irish public and artistic community on avant-garde developments, tracing the transition from modernism to post-modernism and managing to place artists such as Picasso and Louis le Brocquy in the same space for the first time - giving a precedence to Irish art that had never before been witnessed. In The Poetry of Vision Peter Shortt masterfully details every quarrel and breakthrough to expose the true achievement and significance of the Rosc exhibitions in this exuberantly illustrated book.