MARIE BOURKE : Paul Henry (1876-1958) was born
in Belfast where he attended the local college of art for a year
before travelling to Paris about 1898. In Paris he studied
first at The Académie Julian then at Whistler's Académie
Carmen.
[…]
In 1903 he married the Scottish
painter Grace Mitchell […]. Friends of the Henrys had spent
their honeymoon on Achill island and they enthused about it so
much that the Henrys decided to go and see for themselves. The
Henrys first visited Achill in the summer of 1910 and stayed
for a year. In 1912 they settled in Achill, remaining until
late 1919. It was there that Paul Henry's long attachment to
the west of Ireland began. During this Achill period his works
tended to be scenes of peasant life, while from 1920 onward
his pictures wre mostly landscapes without figures.
[…]
Henry, largely single-handed,
founded a type of Irish landscape painting, as a result
of which many people still see the west through his eyes.
When Henry painted these scenes they were very modern and
he became an influential figure in encouraging an interest in
Modernism.
[…]
He lost his sight in 1945 yet
still managed to write two autobiographies, An irish portrait
and Further reminiscences [Blackstaff press, Belfast,
1973].
☐ The
Irish landscape through the eyes of the painter,
pp. 141-142
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