Stained glass, Symbolism, Decadence, Celtic mysticism, Art Nouveau and the Ballets Russes - all these elements claim a place in the definition of Harry Clarke. Born a century ago, this Dublin artist, son of an English father and an Irish mother, worked intensely at his art, as if conscious that death would overtake him at an early age. Clarke is now recognized internationally as a bizarre genius of his age, as the Irish Beardsley. This is the story of a questing soul with a complex imagination who produced prolifically and with outstanding originality. His skill and vision has not been equaled and this book is based on a study which won the 1984 CINOA Art History Laureate and is richly illustrated, bringing the range and importance of Clarke's work to general attention.

The Life and Work of Harry Clarke

Arts & Photography

Bowe, Nicola Gordon

History & Criticism

Irish Academic Press

The Life and Work of Harry Clarke pb

Dublin and Edinburgh were ideally placed to become important centres of the Arts and Crafts movement and its National Romantic corollary, the Celtic Revival. This profusely illustrated volume is the first major study of Arts and Crafts design in these two great capital cities. It examines shared literary, formal and ideological links and values (strongly influenced by radical figures like Patrick Geddes, W.B. Yeats and George Ã«AEÃ Russell), as well as differences, while exploring the ambivalent relationship each city enjoyed with its native cultural heritage and with England. The text is a totally revised and expanded catalogue of the acclaimed exhibition curated by the authors for the 1985 Edinburgh International Festival. Of interest to design, social and cultural historians, the book begins with a joint introduction and two essays which place the achievements of each city within their social and cultural contexts. These are followed by substantial catalogue sections which give biographical accounts of artists, designers, architects and craftsmen and women whose range of work deserves contextual and critical re-evaluation.

The Arts and Crafts Movements in Dublin & Edinburgh 1885-1925

Cumming, Elizabeth

Irish Academic Pr

The definitive biography of Clarke and a critical survey of his oeuvre—out of print for more than 15 years, now with new images and additional materialStained glass, symbolism, decadence, Celtic mysticism, National Romanticism, Art Nouveau, and the Ballets Russes—all these elements claim a place in the definition of the art of Harry Clarke (1887-1931), the Dublin artist now recognized internationally as a bizarre genius of his age. As an Irish Symbolist, his work is analogous with that of his friends W.B. Yeats and George Russell (AE), as well as the early James Joyce. AE rightly prophesized the fascination his work would hold for future generations of collectors. Whether in stained glass or in book illustration, his all too rare work has, over the past two decades, become increasingly sought after. This book provides a chronological and contextual framework of study for his ceaseless and varied output—in Dublin, London, the Aran Islands, Glasgow, Paris, and finally America. In Clarke, a fundamentally Arts and Crafts ideology is fused with a Celtic Revivalist spirit seeking expression in a modern idiom during a key period in Ireland's history.

Harry Clarke

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Douglas Hyde Gallery

<p>When she died in 1955, the Belfast-born Wilhelmina Geddes was described as 'the greatest stained glass artist of our time' whose monumental directness of treatment (whatever the scale) constituted 'a revival of the mediaeval genius.' Yet, a full appreciation of her powerful figurative art was limited to a relative few. Her work can still be viewed in a variety of locations across Ireland, from Dublin's Hugh Lane Gallery and St. Anne's Church to buildings in Fermanagh, Belfast, Loughrea, and Larne, as well as internationally in Canada, Belgium, New Zealand, and England. Although critics praised the deeply spiritual and uncompromising skill of her craftsmanship - 'Nowhere in modern glass is there a more striking example of a courageous adventure in the medium' (her 1919 Duke of Connaught War Memorial in Ottawa), her 'power of simplifying without loss of meaning' (her great Wallsend Crucifixion window of 1922), and 'the fine sensibility and deep intelligence' of her majestic 64-light Te Deum rose window to the king of the Belgians (1934-388) - her often out-of-the-way windows need to be seen in situ. Battling with ill health, like her better-known pupil and contemporary, Evie Hone, Wilhelmina Geddes became a major figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts movement and 20th-century British stained glass revival, a medieval-modernist of rare intellect, skill, and aesthetic integrity. This profusely illustrated contextual study of her life and work draws on hitherto unpublished primary sources to represent her unique artistic achievement during the turbulence of two world wars. *** "...a work of great beauty and tremendous impact." --Times Literary Supplement *** "An extraordinarily rich, evocative and psychologically penetrating study of a powerful artist and the times she lived through. Nicola Gordon Bowe has restored Wilhelmina Geddes to a central place in the Arts and Crafts movement, and drawn a vivid portrait of the difficult life and personality of an original and uncompromising talent ..." --R.F. Foster, Professor of Irish History, University of Oxford [Subject: Biography, Art History, Irish Studies]</p>

Wilhelmina Geddes: Life and Work

Humor & Entertainment

Four Courts Press

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