Somewhat unexpectedly, the Irish Club of Belgium provided the vehicle for some of the most interesting and life-enhancing activities of 1987 and the following three years.

I say life-enhancing because, looking back, they seem larger in terms of achievement and interest than most other things I have done, and may yet provide the basis for a number of post-retirement projects.

My big idea for 1987 was that an exhibition of contemporary Irish art could be organised in Brussels drawing on the range of work potentially available from a number of individual and commercial collectors.

The genesis of the idea was an awareness from social visits to the houses of friends or colleagues in Brussels, and to the Office of Allied Irish banks, that, if one could collect together all the pictures and sculptures embellishing the houses, apartments and offices of Irish people and agencies in Brussels, one would have a respectable collection, drawn from most of the significant names among contemporary Irish artists.

The more I thought about this idea, the more exciting it became. I saw myself as curator of an exhibition that would attract considerable attention in Brussels. The vision of producing a first-class colour catalogue seemed particularly tempting. Of course, mounting such a show would require an organisational base and some financial support. How might that be obtained?

My exploratory discussions began with Liam Doyle, the manager of the Brussels Office of Allied Irish Banks. I knew that, apart from the possibility of his making some fine pictures available from the Bank’s collection, AIB might be prepared to support the show financially. Liam himself owned some work by Jack O’Hanlon and Nora McGuinness, key figures in the Living Art movement, that he understandably hoped might appreciate in value over the years, and would therefore probably welcome an opportunity to exhibit.

Our own modest collection of work, by John Behan, Charles Harper and Patrick Scott, might also make a useful contribution to any show.

Liam responded positively to the suggestion of trying to organise such an exhibition and agreed to serve on a working committee, provided there was not too much work involved.

Deirdre Ryan, a talented artist in her own right, who was secretary to David O’Sullivan, a member of Peter Sutherland’s Cabinet, agreed, with David’s backing, to help with whatever secretarial work might be involved but preferred not to be called on for committee meetings as such.

This essential support base seemed to me to be adequate to justify a proposal to the Irish Club of Belgium that the proposed exhibition should be adopted as a project by the Club. The response of the Club was that the Club itself should incur no financial cost and that a member of the Club Committee, Helen Mc Kenna, should be accepted as a member of the organising committee. While the conditions seemed less than encouraging, and Liam and I felt initially that Helen’s role might be more that of a supervisor than a supporter, we agreed to go ahead with the project within the Club’s framework.

In fact, we got to know Helen as a gifted graphic artist and she contributed invaluably to the ultimate success of the show. She designed the posters used to promote the exhibition, and the poster logo used for the sticky labels to be attached to every work loaned to the show as proof of its selection for exhibition.

Apart from trying to identify the range of work available, key decisions had to be the date and venue for the exhibition. An Irish colleague, Clodagh O’Brien, who studied sculpture in Brussels, suggested the RHOK academy in Etterbeek, one of the Brussels communes near the Commission’s Headquarters, as a possible venue.

It turned out to be perfect for our purposes. In front of the main RHOK premises, approached through a large cobbled yard, a small gallery had been custom-built for visiting exhibitions. The Director of RHOK, Marcel Boon, immediately warmed to the idea of the proposed Irish exhibition as meeting his criteria for visiting shows. End-of-June dates were allocated. There would be no charge for the use of the gallery premises and RHOK would also offer accommodation for the lectures it was hoped to associate with the exhibition.

Liam and I did most of the visiting in search of paintings and sculptures suitable for exhibition. He introduced a German collector in Brussels who specialised in contemporary abstract Irish work.

Isy Brachot, then the leading commercial gallery for modern work in Brussels, agreed to loan a large Robert Ballagh from its collection. A number of Irish people in Brussels turned out to have small, highly personal work by well-known artists with whom they were friendly. Pat Harris, the Irish figurative painter teaching in the Royal Academy of Art in Antwerp, offered a pastel and a large dramatic oil of a standing nude.

It soon became clear that it would be possible to select almost 40 works of quality representing more than twenty of the best-known names in 20th century Irish art. I reckoned it should be possible from my own collection of books and catalogues to prepare an interesting catalogue, and a positive sponsorship reply from GPA, the Shannon-based aviation leasing group, opened the possibility of printing it in full colour.

One of Brussels’ leading art photographers was recruited to take the necessary transparencies and insurance for the works was arranged through a specialist broker.

We called the exhibition “Disposition ‘87”, drawing on a quotation attributed to James Joyce in the 1980 “A Sense of Ireland” exhibition catalogue: “Art is the human disposition of sensible or intelligible matter for an aesthetic end”.

It turned out to be a satisfyingly respectable show, with the patronage of the Irish Ambassador to Belgium and two Members of the European Commission, a review from the art critic of “L’Echo” and a mention in the “What’s on in the Arts” column of the Financial Times.

Unfortunately, like most art shows, the opening was the only moment which drew a real crowd, and the reluctance of the Irish in Brussels – the main visitors – to buy a catalogue at 120 Belgian Francs was remarkable. Of the libraries and galleries in Belgium, Ireland and the UK to whom copies of the catalogue were sent, only the Tate in London was organised enough to send an acknowledgement.

More encouragingly, there was a small but appreciative attendance for the two lecture evenings associated with the exhibition. Bruce Arnold, the columnist and art historian, who came to Brussels on a European assignment, spoke about Manie Jellett, represented in the exhibition, and the subject of a biography on which he was then working. Pat Harris came from Antwerp to speak about his own work. This visit gave Anne and me the opportunity to get to know both himself and his wife Linda, who had taken some of the slides illustrating his talk. We purchased his pastel nude from the exhibition, in what was to turn out to be the first of a number of small gestures of patronage we have been glad to offer this highly intelligent painter, whose gifts are complemented by charm and drive and his delightful wife and family.

To my great disappointment, “Disposition ‘87” achieved no mention or review in the Irish media, whether newspapers, radio or television. Professional-quality images of the show were available because of the support given by both Irish television’s Brussels correspondent, Eamon Lalor, and his Polish cameraman stringer, André Kasparjk.

André shot the exhibition and its opening on video and on the basis of this excellent footage, both he and Eamon indulged my proposal to make a short edited account of “Disposition”. My conviction that I could direct such a short documentary was based on my cinema-course experience and my reading on film-making. I put up the funds for a day’s studio editing and we ended up with a short film which served as an interesting record of an Irish Club project. But, just as the catalogue attracted disappointingly little interest, my efforts to interest any RTE programme in the exhibition and available graphic and video material proved unsuccessful.

This first documentary experience convinced me nevertheless that I had the knowledge and competence to produce professional film material, particularly because it introduced me to the organisational steps required, and the professional competences involved.

Over the next few years I managed to create a few opportunities for demonstrating this competence and have not given up completely on my film-making ambitions.

Read more: 1988 – A Visit to Moscow