Margaret Clarke (1884-1961), 'Study of Julia with Toothache'.
Margaret Clarke (1884-1961), 'Study of Julia with Toothache'. © The Artists Estate.

Press release 28/4/2017

Margaret Clarke: An Independent Spirit

13 May – 20 August 2017 | Admission free. 

Margaret Clarke (1884-1961) was an ambitious artist of strong independent spirit, an attribute clearly evident in the quietly determined gaze of her self-portrait painted in the early years of her career. She was a pupil of the celebrated painter Sir William Orpen, and the wife of the renowned stained-glass artist Harry Clarke. In the years following her death, Clarke became one of the less familiar artists of her generation. In her lifetime, however, she was highly regarded by her peers, and numbered leading figures in Irish culture, including Thomas Bodkin, Thomas MacGreevy, Lennox Robinson, Dermod O’Brien, Seán Keating, Mainie Jellett, Evie Hone, and James White among her friends.

This exhibition will re-evaluate the work of Margaret Clarke. It will examine the development of Clarke’s style, from her time at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art through to her later period when she produced a number of highly ambitious and striking paintings based on diverse themes. 

A broad range of the artist's work is brought together for the exhibition from both public and private collections and includes paintings, drawings, sketchbooks and archival material. The challenges Clarke faced as an artist, balancing family life and the management of the Harry Clarke Stained Glass Studios after her husband’s death in 1931, will also be addressed. 

Among the works in the show are Harry Clarke on Inis Oírr, 1914 (Private Collection); Miserere, 1926 (Private Collection); The Wife /The Haircut c.1926/7 (Irish News Collection, Belfast); (Newry & Mourne Museum Collection); Bathtime at the Crèche, c.1925 (National Gallery of Ireland) and Mary Magdalen, 1927 (Private Collection).

An accompanying illustrated catalogue, edited by exhibition curator, Niamh MacNally (NGI) with an essay by Carla Briggs (UCD School of Art History & Cultural Policy), is available from the Gallery Shop, €7.95pb.

The exhibition, Margaret Clarke: An Independent Spirit is a collaboration with the F.E. McWilliam Gallery & Studio in Banbridge, and will be shown there from 15 September – 18 November 2017.