NIVAL (National Irish Visual Arts Library)
NIVAL is a public research resource which is dedicated to the documentation of twentieth- and twenty-first-century Irish visual art and design. It collects, stores and makes available for research documentation of Irish art and design in all media. NIVAL's collection policy encompasses Irish art and design from the entire island, Irish art and design abroad, and non-Irish artists and designers working in Ireland. NIVAL is sustained by material contributions from artists, arts organisations and arts workers. Information is also acquired from galleries, cultural institutions, critics, the art and design industries, and national and local authorities responsible for the visual arts. NIVAL is housed on the campus of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin.
History
NIVAL was established in 1997 by Edward Murphy, a librarian at the National College of Art and Design for thirty-five years. The library's aim is to document all aspects of twentieth- and twenty-first century Irish art and design. Much of the material, amassed over a thirty-year period, is unavailable elsewhere. The collection includes files on all leading artists and designers of the period, monographs, exhibition catalogues, price lists, brochures, press releases and newspaper reviews. Since its founding, NIVAL has received annual revenue subsidies from the Arts Council and project-development funding from the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the Heritage Council and the UK's Design History Society.Main collection
The library's major components are books, journals and catalogues; ephemera files, and special collections. NIVAL's books, journals and catalogues are the most comprehensive collection of published titles pertaining to Irish art and design. There are more than 3,000 books and exhibition catalogues and about 60 journals, searchable on the NCAD's online library catalogue.The ephemera files are a collection of printed documentation such as invitation cards, press releases, news clippings, brochures, and small-scale catalogues. File material is classified by artist, galleries, related subjects, and design.
NIVAL's special collections are over sixty groups of discrete archival material which originated from one source and are more useful to the researcher when kept together. They document an artist, arts organisation, art movement, or a combination thereof. Several collections are ongoing; these include the Artists’ Books Collection of hand-made, letterpress, and limited-edition books and the Posters Collection, which includes works by Irish artists and designers. It includes vintage Aer Lingus and tourism posters, NCAD print-studio posters, and a variety of exhibition posters.
Special collections
- 1913 Tapestry Lockout Project: research notes, sewing samples and preparatory drawings relating to the tapestry commemorating the centennial of the 1913 Dublin lock-out. SIPTU, NCAD and a number of community groups collaborated on the project, which was acquired in 2015.
- Aloysius O'Kelly Collection: Niamh O'Sullivan's research material on Irish impressionist painter Aloysius O'Kelly ; acquired in 2013.
- Artists Association of Ireland: administration and financial records from the association
- The Artist Led Archive: a growing collection of documentation on the history of Irish artist-led cultural initiatives since 1970. The collection documents about 75 such initiatives and the cultural conditions influencing their development.
- Artsource Records : documentary material relating to the activities of the independent curatorial organisation since the mid-1990s
- Artworking: material on the Irish arts consulting organisation
- Artists' Books Collection: hand-made, letterpress, and limited-edition books created by artists born or living in Ireland
- Brian Connolly Archive: artist's papers relating to public art commissions and digital images of performance work by Northern Irish sculptor Brian Connolly
- Brian Lalor Research Archive: an extensive collection of research materials compiled and edited by Lalor in preparation for his publication, Ink Stained Hands: Graphic Studio Dublin and the Origins of Fine-Art Printmaking in Ireland
- Brian K. Reilly Collection: sketchpads of drawings belonging to the Irish painter
- City Arts Centre Archive: administrative records, exhibition records and audio-visual documentation of centre activities compiled, organised and donated by former director Sandy Fitzgerald
- Cleo Collection: financial and administrative records of Cleo, a clothing shop on Kildare Street in Dublin which specialises in Irish knitwear and textiles
- Powers' Distillery Cooper's Stencils: stencils used by Powers coopers, who were previously located on the NCAD Thomas Street campus
- Cor Klaasen Collection: examples of Klaasen's graphic design, including a folio of prints displayed at the National Print Museum's 2005 retrospective exhibition. Donated to the library by Klaasen's widow in 2008.
- Cultural Relations Committee: 1949–1952 records of the Cultural Relations Committee, a body which advises the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
- Daniel Egan Collection: ledgers and scrapbooks documenting the activities of the Egan Gallery in the 1920s–1930s
- Daniel Maclise Collection: John Turpin's research material on Irish painter Daniel Maclise ; acquired in 2015.
- Distillers Press: posters, prints and handmade books from the Distillers Press in NCAD's Visual Communications Department. Includes photographs and correspondence
- Dolmen Press: samples of printed material published by Dolmen Press, an Irish publisher specialising in hand-printed editions of poetry and art. Compiled by Dolmen Press co-founder Liam Miller.
- Dorothy Walker Collection: criticism, correspondence and other documentation on Irish and international art from the 1970s–1990s, bequeathed to NIVAL by the critic and art historian
- Earley & Company Archives: designs and company records of Earley and Company, ecclesiastical furnishers with offices in Dublin from 1852 to 1974
- Ed Miliano Collection: graphic design examples and illustration by the American born, Irish-based, artist and designer Ed Miliano
- Embroidery Artists Collection: paper documentation of Embroidery Artists group activities and lace and embroidery samples. The sewing samples were a teaching collection used by the NCAD's embroidery department.
- Ernest Hayes Collection: material relating to Irish artist Ernest Hayes, donated by his family
- Evie Hone Collection: books and ephemera from the artist's library
- Fenderesky Gallery Image Collection: photographs and slides of exhibitions at the Belfast gallery from 1990 to 2013
- Fionnan MacCollum: sketchbooks and correspondence relating to Irish sculptural designer Fionnan Og MacCollum
- Friends of the National Collections of Ireland: administrative records of the FNCI, a voluntary body founded in 1924 by Irish artist Sarah Purser to help preserve Ireland's artistic heritage when there was little state support for art collections in Ireland
- Gordon Lambert Collection: papers relating to the art collector
- Graphic Studio Dublin Archive: institutional archive of letters, catalogues, photographs and ephemera from the 1960 establishment of the studio to its 2010 acquisition
- Helen Moloney Archive: correspondence, preparatory artwork and photographs belonging to the Irish stained-glass artist
- Hibernia: artist Peter Haining's archive of a six-year project to document naive and auto-didactic art throughout Ireland. The archive includes sketchbooks, diaries, photographs, ephemera and a library amassed as Haining bicycled around the 32 counties.
- Irish Exhibition of Living Art Archive : documentary material, including two volumes of press clippings, exhibition catalogues, visitors books and minutes, from the Irish Exhibition of Living Art ; acquired 2001
- Irish Directions : administrative records compiled by Boylan relating to Irish Directions, a travelling exhibition of Irish art at the Ulster Museum, the Hugh Lane Gallery and the Worcester Art Museum in 1974
- Irish Patchwork Society Archive: administrative records and photographic documentation of the society's activities from 1979 to its 2013 acquisition
- Irish Trade Board: Fashion forecasts, mood boards and reports from the board, 1993—1999
- Jan de Fouw Collection: examples of graphic design, including Aer Lingus posters
- John Hogan Collection: John Turpin's research material on the Irish sculptor
- Kevin Kavanagh Gallery Records: 20 years of administrative diaries and visitors’ books, donated by the gallery
- Kilkenny Design Workshops Archive: records, press clippings and photographic documentation from the workshops, 1963–1989,
- Kilkenny Design Consultancy Archive: administrative records, correspondence, research material, design drawings and prototypes for graphic design and industrial design projects from the Kilkenny Design Workshops Design Consultancy, dating from the 1980s
- Lillias Mitchell Collection: papers and research notes on the Irish artist and weaver
- Mainie Jellett Collection: documentary material on Jellet's life and work, including correspondence, sketchbooks and personal items
- Mia Cranwill Collection: collection documenting the Irish metalworker, including photographs, press cuttings and personal items
- Michael Healy Collection: a portion of the 1916 diary of the Irish stained-glass artist, in which he writes about the Easter 1916 Rising in Dublin.
- National College of Art & Design Records: NCAD student registers from 1877 to the 1970s; headmasters' reports, files and correspondence from 1907 documenting NCAD and its predecessor, the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art
- Odlums Flour Bags: examples of flour packaging from the company
- Oliver Sheppard Collection: Artist's sketchbooks, photographs, correspondence, drawings and small sculptures documenting the sculptor's work, donated by John Turpin
- Patrick Pollen Collection: drawings and sketches for stained-glass commissions by the British-born artist
- Patrick Scott Collection: books, papers and photographs belonging to the Irish abstract painter, bequeathed to NIVAL
- Paul Nietsche Collection: photographs of artworks and documentation relating to the Ukrainian-born artist, who lived and worked in Belfast
- Paul Peter Piech Collection: hand-printed material by the American graphic designer and printmaker
- Peter Grant : artist's papers relating to the Irish sculptor and records of the Institute of Sculptors of Ireland, founded by Grant during the 1950s
- Pieter Sluis Collection: books and drawings by the Dutch graphic designer, who lived and worked in Ireland
- Posters Collection: ongoing collection of posters relating to Irish artists, designers, galleries and subjects, including 1950s Aer Lingus posters by Gus Melai and Jan de Fouw, NCAD print-studio posters and exhibition posters
- Raymond Mintz Collection: artist's papers and photographs relating to the American painter, who moved to Ireland in 1969
- Rosc '71 Collection: correspondence and other documentary materials relating to Rosc '71, donated by the estate of James Johnson Sweeney from 2005 to 2010
- Sculptors’ Society of Ireland: more than 900 SSI membership records, with CVs, images and proposals for sculpture projects
- Society of Designers Ireland Records: administrative records of the SDI, including Design Week documentation
- State Art Collection : correspondence, documentation and images of Office of Public Works art in state buildings
- Sweepstakes Collection: advertising material from the Irish Sweepstakes, a 1930–1986 Irish Free State lottery to fund hospitals
- Sybil Connolly Collection: ephemera acquired from the designer in 1999
- Temple Bar Gallery and Studios Archive: exhibition records and studio programmes from the contemporary-art venue from its 1983 establishment to 2000
- Theo Snoddy Archive: research and correspondence associated with the publication of Snoddy's 20th-century Dictionary of Irish Artists, including criticism, reviews and exhibition catalogues
- An Túr Gloine: David Caron's PhD research of the Dublin studio and its group of stained-glass artists from 1903 to 1944
- Wallpaper Sample Books and Women's Magazines: three wallpaper-sample books and issues of British women's magazines dating from the late 1800s