Photographs: RHA 2009
Amelia Stein

This publication was commissioned by the RHA under the Per Cent for Art Scheme for the recent development of the RHA. This project was part-funded by the Dept. of Arts, Sports and Tourism under the National Development Plan 2007-2013, “Transforming Ireland”. Amelia Stein’s area of expertise has been in portraiture, and more recently still life. In 2007, she began a series of works photographing artists in their studios, with special attention to the art making objects and ephemera of these special working spaces.

Since beginning the art project in April 2008, Stein has travelled throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland, photographing each artist member of the Academy, capturing the essential quality of each studio and the artist who works here. The diverse spaces, both unremarkable and out of the ordinary, where these artists make their work is apparent, from Gene Lambert’s RHA barge that serves both as a studio and home, to the purpose built spaces of Michael Warren RHA and Martin Gale RHA, to the seemingly domestic scale of the working spaces of Barbara Warren RHA and John Coyle RHA.

The membership of the Academy is broadening and she set out to capture the diverse artists that make up this group at this invigorating time of its history. To date, there are 53 members of the RHA, to include both full and associate members. By working at length with each of her subjects, she captured a singularly exact portrait of each artist in their particular place of work. Each artist is also represented by a meticulous still life of their chair within their studio.

Amelia Stein lives and works in Dublin, Ireland, where she was born in 1958, establishing herself over 30 years as a singularly exacting photographer whose work is characterized by meticulous attention to detail in tandem with the attributes of fine black and white photography. As a performing arts photographer, Stein has worked in Theatre and Opera in Ireland 1979-2000. Her signature black and white photography featured widely in the Music Industry. Elected a member of the RHA in 2004, Aosdána in 2006.

The Royal Hibernian Academy is an artist based and artist orientated institution dedicated to developing, affirming and challenging the public’s appreciation and understanding of traditional and innovative approaches to the visual arts. The Academy achieves its objectives through its exhibition, education and collection programmes.

The Academy is funded by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, through fundraising initiatives, through the earned revenue from its Annual Exhibition and by the Benefactors, Patrons and Friends of the Academy.¹