Man to appear in court after throwing soup on artwork in Cork gallery

Olivia Kelleher

A man in his twenties who entered the Modern Gallery on the second floor of Crawford Art Gallery in Cork city Thursday evening and proceeded to throw soup at one of the artworks on the wall is to appear before a court later this month.

The targeted work, a George Atkinson drawing entitled “Anatomical Study” was glazed. Fortunately, no damage was sustained to the artwork. An extensive clean of the work and the wall commenced Thursday evening.

The incident occurred at around 5pm. Gallery security and staff were on the scene immediately and the perpetrator was detained until gardaí arrived.

The person was arrested and taken to the Bridewell Garda Station in Cork city for questioning. He was released on station bail and will appear before Cork District Court on November 23rd next. There is no known motive for the attack.

This section of the gallery where the incident occurred was closed for clean up. However, the rest of the gallery remained open yesterday evening. The Modern Gallery has since reopened.

Mary McCarthy, Gallery Director, said that they are continuing to remain vigilant about the items from the National Collection in their care.

“We are grateful to our many loyal art lovers for their support. We will work quickly to have the work back on display.”