| Western Light Art Gallery The Sandybanks, Keel, Achill Island Co. Mayo. Ireland. Tel: +353 98 43325 Fax: +353 98 43325 e-mail: cannonphoto@eircom.net Web Sites: http://www.art-gallery-ireland.com http://www.achill-island-mayo.com |
October 16th.’00.
To friends and family of Brian O’Donnell.
I am the owner of the art gallery on Achill Island. This Island is just off the coast of County Mayo and is joined to the mainland by a bridge. For more information please check out the website at:
Nearly three years ago the owner of a Pub not far from us approached me and asked me to look at some old paintings that had been in a back room for years. He was planning to throw them out and wondered if there was anything of value in the collection of boxes. They were there when he bought the building in 1975.
The situation today is that I have all the paintings and I have had them valued by a representative of Christies of London who came over to Achill last summer. Their estimated value is no less than 2.5 million Irish Pounds!
The paintings were probably produced here on the Island between the years of 1940 and 1959 by a man that subsequently became quite a well-known painter in the United States. All of the paintings are signed by Brian O’Donnell and cover a wide variety of subject matter.
My investigations have established that he came from a very large family all of whom emigrated to various parts of Europe. I could not find any relations remaining on Achill Island or in America so far. As we found your family name in an old diary I believe that it may be possible that you are either related in some way to Brian O’Donnell and you may be entitled to a share of this large collection of art or that you or your family had some other relationship with the artist. Our main challenge at the moment is to find out whether O’Donnell is alive and to find out where he lives.
Because of his age we must also consider that he may have died. In order to satisfy the requirements of inheritance law in Ireland my solicitor has proposed that a meeting should take place next February on Achill Island at which you will have an opportunity to give information about where the artist lives now or to establish your entitlement to a share of this collection of the work of Brian O’Donnell.
The proposed meeting will take place at The Cliff House Restaurant on February 5th at 9.00pm. If you are thinking of travelling to Achill please get in contact with our European co-ordinator Thomas Berger at: berger@inter-research.de
Yours sincerely,
Sean Cannon.
Be part of the journey !