01.11.2010
The National College of Art and Design, a Recognised College of the National University of Ireland, held its annual conferring ceremony on 1 November in O’Reilly Hall, UCD.
In addition to conferring two hundred and sixty students who were conferred with Bachelor, Masters and Doctoral degrees and Postgraduate Diplomas of the National University of Ireland, the NUI Chancellor, Dr Maurice Manning also conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts on Ms Barbara Dawson, Director of the Dublin City Gallery/The Hugh Lane.
Introducing Ms. Dawson, Professor Declan McGonagle, NCAD Director, gave a detailed account of her directorship of the Dublin City Gallery/The Hugh Lane stating that ‘over two decades [she] has made a significant contribution not just to the development of Dublin City Gallery/The Hugh Lane, but to the sense of Dublin as a centre for the visual as well as the better known literary arts, and – in so doing - she had made 
an exceptional contribution to the development of the cultural field in Ireland.’ Some of Ms. Dawson’s recent achievements have included securing for the centenary of the Hugh Lane in 2008 ‘the return of all 39 of Hugh Lane’s paintings, which are shared with the National Gallery in London. This was the first time these works had been exhibited together in Dublin since 1913. Under Ms. Dawson’s directorship, ‘the Dublin City Gallery/The Hugh Lane has broken new ground in the conservation and evaluation of the archive material of Francis Bacon and the result is that the Gallery […] is now understood to be the world centre for studies on one of the most significant painters of the second half of the 20th century.
Follow NUI on X