Harry Clarke

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Clarke, Harry (1889–1931). Irish artist, chiefly famous as one of the 20th century's greatest designers of stained glass, but also a mural painter, textile designer, and book illustrator. He was born in Dublin, the son of a church decorator, and had his main training at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, 1910–13. Scholarships then enabled him to study medieval glass in France. He took over the family business on his father's death in 1921 and had a large output in spite of his short life (he died from tuberculosis). The Harry Clarke Stained Glass Studios Ltd. continued in business until 1973. Clarke's glass was sumptuous and often rather bizarre in style—in the spirit of French Symbolist painters. As an illustrator he had a taste for the macabre and is particularly remembered for his black-and-white drawings for an edition of Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1923). His wife Margaret Clarke (née Crilley) (1888–1961), whom he married in 1914, was a painter. She studied under Orpen and was strongly influenced by him, although her posthumous portrait of her husband (NG, Dublin, c. 1932) is in a more decorative, highly coloured style. After Harry's death she became director of the stained-glass studios.

Clarke, Harry (b Dublin, 17 Mar. 1889; d Coire, Switzerland, 6 Jan. 1931). Irish artist, chiefly famous as one of the 20th century's greatest designers of stained glass, but also a mural painter, textile designer, and book illustrator. He had his main training at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, 1910–13, and scholarships then enabled him to study medieval glass in France. On his father's death in 1921 he took over his church decorating business and he had a large output in spite of his short life (he died from tuberculosis). The Harry Clarke Stained Glass Studios Ltd. continued in business until 1973. Clarke's glass was sumptuous and often rather bizarre in style—in the spirit of French Symbolist painters. As an illustrator he had a taste for the macabre and is particularly remembered for his black-and-white drawings for an edition of Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1923). His wife Margaret Clarke (née Crilley) (1888–1961), whom he married in 1914, was a painter. After Harry's death she became director of the stained-glass studios.

Clarke, Harry (1889–1931). Irish artist, chiefly famous as one of the 20th-century's greatest designers of stained glass, but also a mural painter, textile designer, and book illustrator. He was born in Dublin, the son of a church decorator, and had his main training at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, 1910–13. Scholarships then enabled him to study medieval glass in France. He took over the family business on his father's death in 1921 and had a large output in spite of his short life (he died from tuberculosis). The Harry Clarke Stained Glass Studios Ltd continued in business until 1973. Clarke's glass was sumptuous and often rather bizarre in style—in the spirit of French Symbolist painters. As an illustrator he had a taste for the macabre and is particularly remembered for his black-and-white drawings for an edition of Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1923). His wife Margaret Clarke (née Crilley) (1888–1961), whom he married in 1914, was a painter. After Harry's death she became director of the stained-glass studios.