uachtarARTS Group Show – Inspired by Harry Clarke
A Connemara Girl (after Augustus Nicholas Burke and Harry Clarke)
The iconic painting A Connemara Girl and the stained glass work of Harry Clarke are the inspiration for my work for the uachtarARTS Exhibition for Clifden Arts Week, 2024.
A Connemara Girl: Detail from the National Gallery Label:
“Showing a young woman in traditional Connemara attire, this painting might be said to evoke rather than illustrate Augustus Burke’s beloved west of Ireland. While the artist has relied on authentic detail, particularly in the girl’s costume and the terrain, he has made no attempt to disguise the contrived nature of the composition. The central position of the figure, her head and shoulders framed by a heavy shawl, calls to mind devotional Christian imagery.”
The Christian imagery reference prompted me to re-imagine the Connemara Girl in the style of a Harry Clarke stained glass window. I had worked with Harry Clarke’s imagery before during the Curacha Exhibition celebrating Áras Éanna in 2021. It is a pleasure to again study Harry Clarke’s techniques and imagery.
Another detail that interested me is that Augustus Nicholas Burke was a Galway artist.
The National Gallery label states:
It (the Connemara Girl) was probably painted before the artist’s reluctant emigration, prompted by his brother’s murder alongside the Chief Secretary in the Phoenix Park in 1882.
