Creative talent of Irish artist Evie Hone celebrated in National Gallery anniversary exhibition.

Press Release, November 2005

Evie Hone: A Pioneering Artist
National Gallery of Ireland (Room 20)
3 December 2005- 4 June 2006
Admission free.

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Evie Hone (1894-1955), an in-focus exhibition of her work will go on show in the National Gallery of Ireland from 3rd December 2005 to 4th June 2006. Admission is free.

Each aspect of the artist's career is highlighted from her early abstract work through to her later stained glass pieces, bringing together some 25 works drawn from public and private collections around Ireland.

Born in Dublin, Evie Hone's first art lessons were with the British artist, Walter Sickert at the Westminster School of Art, London in 1914. It was here she met her lifelong friend and fellow artist Mainie Jellett. Six years later she went to Paris, to be joined by Jellett. Together they studied for a year with the semi-cubist painter and writer Andre Lhote and then with Albert Gleizes, the well-known abstract cubist painter and theorist. The influence of these artists is evident in Hone's work and reflect not only the Continental avant-garde ideas of her teachers but draw interesting parallels with Irish Christian art.

In the 1930s the style of her compositions developed and became more figurative in their representation. Of these her landscape scenes are noted for their marvellous freshness and vitality. Today, Evie Hone's reputation rests largely on the expressive intensity of her stained glass output. She first worked in this media in 1931 and from then until her death in 1955 she produced a series of splendid windows including the huge, eighteen-light 'Crucifixion and the Last Supper' at Eton College chapel and 'My Four Green Fields' now in Government Buildings, Dublin.

The exhibition is curated by Dr. Síghle Bhreathnach-Lynch who has also written the accompanying illustrated brochure (Gallery Shop, price €2). A lecture series on the life and work of Evie Hone will take place each Tuesday and Sunday throughout February.

Further information: Valerie Keogh
Press & Communications Office
National Gallery of Ireland
Email press@ngi.ie

Evie Hone: A Pioneering Artist

FEBRUARY Lecture Series
-all talks take place in the Gallery Lecture Theatre. Admission is free.

Sunday 5th February, 3pm
'An Introduction to the Evie Hone display'
Lecturer: Dr. Síghle Bhreathnach-Lynch

Tuesday 7th February, 10.30am
'Evie Hone and Hilda van Stockum'
Lecturer: Marie Bourke

Sunday 12th February, 3pm
'Cubism: Gleizes, Lhote and Evie Hone'
Lecturer: Sara Donaldson

Tuesday 14th February, 10.30am
'Hone and other influences on Irish stained glass
Lecturer: William Earley

Sunday 19 February, 3pm
'Evie Hone in the context of Irish women artists'
Lecturer: Dr. Hilary Pyle

Tuesday 21st February, 10.30am
'Modernism in the context of Evie Hone and Mainie Jellett'
Lecturer: Rhiann Coulter

Sunday 26th February, 3pm
'Evie Hone - an artist of her time?'
Lecturer: Dr. Mia Lerm-Hayes

Tuesday 28th February, 10.30am
'The spiritual dimension in Irish art'
Lecturer: Dr. Eileen Kane

How to Find Us:
National Gallery of Ireland
Merrion Square West & Clare Street, Dublin 2
Telephone (01) 661 5133
www.nationalgallery.ie

Gallery Opening Hours: Mon.-Sat. 9.30am-5.30pm; Thurs to 8.30pm; Sun. 12pm-5.30pm.
Admission to the permanent collection is free.