Harry Clarke (March 17, 1889 – January 6, 1931) was an Irish stained
glass artist and book illustrator. Born in Dublin, he was a leading
figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement.
The son of a craftsman, Joshua Clarke, Clarke the younger was exposed
to art (and in particular Art Nouveau) at an early age. He went to
school in Belvedere College in Dublin. By his late teens, he was
studying stained glass at the Dublin Art School. While there his The Consecration of St. Mel, Bishop of Longford, by St. Patrick won the gold medal for stained glass work in the 1910 Board of Education National Competition.
Completing his education in his main field, Clarke travelled to
London, where he sought employment as a book illustrator. Picked up by
London publisher Harrap, he started with two commissions which were never completed: Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (his work on which was destroyed during the 1916 Easter Rising) and an illustrated edition of Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock.
Difficulties with these projects made Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen
his first printed work, however, in 1916—a title that included 16
colour plates and more than 24 monotone illustrations. This was closely
followed by an illustrations for an edition of Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination:
the first version of that title was restricted to monotone
illustrations, while a second iteration with 8 colour plates and more
than 24 monotone images was published in 1923.
The latter of these made his reputation as a book illustrator (this
was during the golden age of gift-book illustration in the first quarter
of the twentieth century: Clarke’s work can be compared to that of
Aubrey Beardsley, Kay Nielsen, and Edmund Dulac). It was followed by
editions of The Years at the Spring, containing 12 colour plates and more than 14 monotone images; (Lettice D’O. Walters, ed., 1920), Charles Perrault’s Fairy Tales of Perrault,
and Goethe’s Faust, containing 8 colour plates and more than 70
monotone and duotone images (New York: Hartsdale House,1925). The last
of these is perhaps his most famous work, and prefigures the disturbing
imagery of 1960s psychedelia.
Two of his most sought-after titles include promotional booklets for Jameson Irish Whiskey: A History of a Great House (1924, and subsequent reprints) and Elixir of Life (1925), which was written by Geofrey Warren.
His final book was Selected Poems of Algernon Charles Swinburne,
which was published in 1928. In the meantime, he had also been working
hard in stained glass, producing more than 130 windows, he and his
brother, Walter, having taken over his father’s studio after his death
in 1921.
Stained glass is central to Clarke’s career. His glass is
distinguished by the finesse of its drawing, unusual in the medium, his
use of rich colours (inspired by an early visit to see the stained glass
of the Cathedral of Chartres, he was
especially fond of deep blues), and an innovative integration of the
window leading as part of the overall design (his use of heavy lines in
his black and white book illustrations is probably derived from his
glass techniques).
Clarke’s stained glass work includes many religious windows but also
much secular stained glass. Highlights of the former include the windows
of the Honan Chapel in University College Cork, of the latter, a window
illustrating John Keats’ The Eve of St. Agnes (now in the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery in Dublin) and the Geneva Window. Perhaps his most seen work was the windows of Bewley’s Café on Dublin’s Grafton Street.
Unfortunately, ill health plagued both the Clarke brothers, and worn
down by the pace of their work, and perhaps the toxic chemicals used in
stained glass production, both died within a year of each other—Harry
second in early 1931, of tuberculosis while trying to recuperate in
Switzerland.
Clarke’s work was influenced by both the passing Art Nouveau and
coming Art Deco movements. His stained glass was particularly informed
by the French Symbolist movement.
- Harry Clarke’s family tree
- Works by Harry Clarke at Project Gutenberg
- The Art of Harry Clarke at Grandmas Graphics
- Beautifully scanned illustrations by Clarke for E. A. Poe
- Harry Clarke at tumblr
No comments:
Post a Comment
Welcome, I publish commentary closely connected to the topic. Thank you for participating.