Irish Artist

ERSKINE NICOL(1825—1904)
Erskine Nicol was born in Leith, Scotland, in 1825, and studied art at the Trustee’s Academy, Edinburgh, where his teachers included Sir William Allan and Thomas Duncan. He worked for some time at the Leith Academy before moving to Ireland for a four-year period between 1846 and 1850. There he received a teaching appointment from the Department of Science and Art in Dublin. The pictures Nicol painted during his Irish sourn explore the social life of the country, often in a humorous and satirical manner. Many of the Irish characters in his well-composed and meticulously executed genre scenes are not far removed from the world of the stage and farce. He could be offensive and coarse, stretching his humorous spirit too far.Nicol returned to Edinburgh in 1850 and was elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1855 and a full academician in 1859. While living in Scotland he continued to paint Irish scenes. He had an excellent memory for detail and he posed his studio models in a theatrical way, which heightened the emotional response evoked by his subjects. The racial humour of many of Nicol’s Irish scenes sometimes yields to sympathy and compassion. The pathetic scene in An Ejected Family (painted in Edinburgh in 1853) shows a young workman with his wife and baby, an elderly man, his head bowed, holding a long walking stick, and two children to the right lying against a grass mound and staring at the thatched cottage from which the family has been evicted. The young labourer is characterised in the stereotype Irish costume of breeches, long coat, shirt and hat. He is staring at his former home with a forlorn expression on his face. His wife looks up at him for guidance, but he appears to have none to offer.The strongest feature of Nicol’s paintings is frequently the landscape background. In An Ejected Family the leaden sky overhangs a brooding landscape, which has been rendered precisely and efficiently. The colours are strong and luminous, the effects of light and shade worked to suit the sad mood of the scene.

Francis Bacon

Born to English parents in Dublin, Francis Bacon, post-modernist, is claimed as an Irish artist as well as an English artist. Best known for his triptych style works, some of which are in the top 20 list of most expensive paintings in the world. He used acrylics, oils, mainly on canvas. A replica of his studio was bought and set up at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin. He even used the walls of his studio to test paint, tones and mixtures. Several bits of corduroy trousers were also found in his studio, and the imprint of this material can be seen in some of his canvasses.

Art Sale

In 2007 over 40 Irish art works were auctioned belonging to the estate of Richard Hatch. The collection included a painting by Louis Le Brocquy, his Traveller Man, and also Neville Johnston and Colin Middleton. The entire collection achieved over 2 million dollars. Middleton moves betwen expressionism, surrealism and cubism. He is largely self taught and is a hugely prolific painter. Le Brocquy painted watercolours, oils and can be viewed in the Crawford Gallery in Cork.

Joseph Patrick Haverty

At one time, Haverty was considered one of the most prolific of irish painters, and after the 1842 exhibition in Cork, it was generally said that if something was worth painting, it should be painted by Joseph Haverty. He was elected as an associated of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1823 and painted a series called the Seven Sacraments soon after. He always signed his art works with the letter J or Joseph, never using his surname. He painted many minatures which demonstrated his mastery of oil paints and great draftsman drawing skills.

Irish Artist Matt Lamb

Matt Lamb is a self taught artist from Cork whose works sell for well into double digits. His work is heavily influenced by Gaugin, Van Gogh, Clemente, Paul Klee, Miro and Appel. His paintings and drawings are very textured and colourful, and he works mainly on canvas. His works can be viewed in private collections around the world as well as in public galleries including the Europa Museum in Luxembourg. His art is almost primitive in nature and reminds the viewer of cave paintings from the early etruscan period.

Irish Arts

I recently went to view a new visual arts exhibition at the Crawford Gallery in Cork City. It included art by Louis Le Brocquy, Jack B Yeats, John Butts, Charles Brady and Barrie Cooke. It of course also included a modern section by the likes of Dorothy Cross and Donald Teskey. I was impresssed with the range of paintings, size of canvas, materials used (acrylics, oils and watercolour).

To keep abreast of painting, sculpture and contemporary Irish art, see Visual Arts in Ireland. It has literally thousands of paintings and sculptures by famous Irish artists like Jack B Yeats, William Scott, Francis Bacon and William Orpen, as well as works by great European artists like Giotto, Leonardo Da Vinci, Albrecht Durer, Rubens, Rembrandt, Goya, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Picasso, Braque, Modigliani, Rothko and Andy Warhol. Learn about the history of Irish art, from Newgrange Neolithic carvings to the magnificent Illuminated Manuscripts like the Book of Kells and Book of Durrow, up to modern styles by Rowan Gillespie (sculptor) and Francis Tansey (acrylic painter). Learn about the work of the Irish Arts Council, the Royal Hibernian Academy and keep up to date with the Irish art market. Whether you are an art-collector, a museum curator, a gallery owner or just an art-lover, its a great website to browse. And if you want information about the dozens of art venues and museums in Ireland, visit Irish Art Galleries. It lists all the major state museums, including the National Gallery of Ireland, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Crawford Gallery and the National Self-Portrait Collection in Limerick, as well as all the main private venues in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway.

Michelangelo

The great Italian High Renaissance painter and sculptor Michelangelo Buonarroti was born at Caprese, Florence. He sketched widely as a child, and was duly apprenticed him to Domenico Ghirlandaio, an established artist of the day, for a term of 3 years. But within a year, despite having already absorbed the elements of fresco technique and completed copies of the great Florentine Old Masters of the past, he moved to the workshop of Bertoldo di Giovanni, a sculptor working for the Medici family. Indeed, during the years 1490-1492, Michelangelo lived with the Medicis; during this time he learned from such artists as Leonardo, Giotto, and Poliziano. Moving in 1496, to Rome, Michelangelo carved the first of his major sculptures, the Bacchus and the St Peter's Pietà, which revealed his mastery of the human body and composition as revealed in this sculpture made his name. In 1501 he returned to Florence where he completed his masterpiece David, the Bruges Madonna and began the Twelve Apostles. He also painted the Doni Tondo.

About Irish Visual Arts

Articles about Irish visual arts, including details of Irish contemporary artists involved in sculpture and painting (in oils, acrylics and watercolour), as well as modern art forms like: installation, assemblage, collage, conceptual and performance art, plus fine art photography, video and animation. Our first series begins with bronze sculpture.