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Cork’s loss is Dublin’s gain, at least for two ye
ars, as some stunning Harry Clarke stained glass panels are donated to the National Museum of Ireland in Collins Barracks while the rebel counties premier art gallery – The Crawford – undergoes a major redevelopment project. The exhibition brings together panels not previously displayed in the same place before and also features some of his earliest known works. A leading figure of the Irish Arts & Crafts Movement, Harry Clarke was born in Dublin in 1889, the son of Joshua Clarke, an English church decorator who had moved to Dublin from Leeds. Joshua Clarke & Sons opened for business in 1893 with Harry joining the firm as a teenager, becoming heavily involved in the stained glass division of the operation. His studies in the Metropolitan College of Art & Design (now N.C.A.D) exposed him to the emerging Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements which, along with the French Symbolist movement, became his artistic touchstones over his life. 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 with further accolades at the 1911, 1912, and 1913 South Kensington National Competitions. He also exhibited at the 1912 International Art Congress in Dresden, Germany, and the 1914 Exposition des Arts Décoratifs de G. Bretagne et d’Irlande at the Louvre in Paris. In 1914 he married a Dublin artist, Margaret Crilly, and moved briefly to London to work as an illustrator. Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen was his first printed work in 1916. This was followed by illustrations for an edition of Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination: the first version of that title was restricted to halftone illustrations, while a second with eight colour plates and more than 24 halftone images was published in 1923. This 1923 edition made his reputation as a book illustrator, during the golden age of gift-book illustration in the first quarter of the twentieth century. It was followed by editions of The Years at the Spring, Charles Perrault’s Fairy Tales of Perrault and Goethe’s Faust, with eight colour plates and more than 70 halftone and duotone images The last of these is his most famous work, prefiguring the imagery of 1960s psychedelia. Clarke and his brother Walter took over his father’s studio after his death in 1921 and produced over 130 stained glass works which now reside in churches in Ireland, the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, the Philippines, Burma, Hong Kong, Singapore and most famously for Dubliners, in Bewleys Cafe on Grafton St. The panels on display in Harry Clarke’s Stained Glass each reveal Clarke’s distinct vision, inviting visitors into the world of religious and fantastical imagery that defined his career. 12 Harry Clarke’s Stained Glass Harry Clarke’s Stained Glass National Museum Of Ireland Collins Barracks , Benburb St, Dublin 7 D07 XKV4 Admission to the exhibition is free. museum.ie for opening times.