dimanche 12 août 2012

Dublin III – Tuesday, August 7

Morning visit to the Chester Beatty Library. Eclectic and impressive; a treasure trove! This is how its collections are described on the Library official website:  Chester Beatty’s library has been described as the finest collection of manuscripts and books made by a private collector in the 20th century. It includes representative samples of the world’s heritage (artistic, religious and secular) from about 2700 BC to the present century.

The Western treasures of the Library include some of the earliest sources on papyrus for the bible and a great library of Manichean texts. The Biblical Papyri, dating from the second to the fourth century AD, consist of the earliest known copies of the four gospels and Acts of the Apostles, the Letters of St Paul, the Book of Revelation and various very early Old Testament fragments. Armenian and Western European manuscripts from medieval, Renaissance and modern times, prints, early and fine books and bindings complete a remarkable conspectus of the arts of manuscript production and printing from many cultures and periods.

Over 6,000 individual items, mainly manuscripts and single-page paintings and calligraphies, make up the Islamic Collections. This includes more than 260 complete and fragmentary Qur’ans, some dating from the late eighth and ninth centuries and including the work of the leading calligraphers of the Islamic world.

The East Asian Collections include a fine series of albums and scrolls from China, the largest collection of jade books from the Imperial Court outside China and a large collection of textiles and decorative objects. The Japanese holdings contain many superb painted scrolls from the 17th and 18th century, woodblock prints by Hiroshige and Hokusai and many others as well as decorative art objects.

Then the site goes on to describe in more detail each collection. Struck by the story of Chester Beatty himself, the American millionaire miner turned collector, sharing his time eventually between London and more Southern places in the winter (Cairo, Southern France, etc.), great traveller (Japan, China, Egypt, etc.) to finally make his home of Dublin in 1950! Interesting to note as well the competition that existed among rich American tycoons, à la Pierpont Morgan, in collecting books and other artifacts; among themselves and very often the very museums (the British Museum, La Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris, the NY Metropolitan Museum, etc.) they on the one hand supported, but also extracted advice from in buying books and other collectables (in what today would be considered as flagrant “conflicts of interest”!)

Lunch at nearby French bistro “Chez Max” over “Croque Monsieur” and a glass of wine. Small place, recommended, very French, very Paris, with tables so close to one another!

Crowned the day with the now classic Irish play “The Plough and the Stars”, written by Sean O’Casey. It was first presented in 1926 at the no less classic Abbey Theatre (established by the poet W.B. Yeats). This is the 56th time the company, we learn, is staging this play! The last run in this city was in 2010 (we are told that then 70% of those attending then were at their first visit to the Abbey Theatre!), before it went to London, and returned back in Dublin this year (it’s going on a tour of Ireland and the U.K. in the autumn). It is set during “The Easter Rising” in 1916, the futile attempt by a bunch of ill-prepared nationalist ideologues to free Ireland from the British on that Easter weekend. The play is taking place amongst lower class people, totally apolitical, but that is put to contribution in supplying themselves as fighters. Women are portrait as the people’s conscience, survival and love, against politics (the Irish Revolution, but WWI too)! It was seen as anti-national at the time of its first production, and led to a very noisy demonstration on one night (can we really call it “riots”, as it is referred to sometimes?) by vexed nationalists! No wonder, because it is anti-Rising (there was no need for pretext such as the so-called “tricolor flag in a tavern blasphemy” for “rioting”!) And yet, O’Casey was no supporter of the link with the British himself – au contraire! (Although he left Ireland after the play; forever! And he went to England!)

We were very fortunate to catch the play. As I said earlier, history is never far from the surface in Ireland! It is interesting to note that the Rising, that is the set for the play, has actually taken place only a few blocks away from where it is currently staged (the Grand Post Office (the “GPO”): the risers’ operational HQ, and the Imperial Hotel are only 2 streets away!)

Got diner at the nearby “101 Talbot” restaurant. Again, recommended. BEFORE the play, once we realised we would not be able to get it AFTER the play, since it was going to be more than 3-hour long! I say “nearby”, walking distance to the Abbey Theatre, except that it is closed for renovation, and that the play instead is performed at the OReilly Theatre, 5 minutes away by taxi! We made it in time, barely!