Margaret Clarke
, Irish, 1884-1961
Title
Julia O'Brien (1906-1987); Christ Carrying the Cross, Observed by a Woman at Left (?Saint Veronica)(on verso)Datec.1920
MediumGraphite on paper
Dimensions
71.4 x 48.5 cm
Credit LinePurchased, 2007
Object numberNGI.2007.21
DescriptionBorn in Newry, County Down, Margaret Crilly won a scholarship in 1905 to attend the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, where she studied under William Orpen. He regarded her as one of his most promising pupils. In 1914 she married fellow student Harry Clarke and established herself as a portrait painter. Following her husband’s premature death in 1931, she became director of the Harry Clarke Stained Glass Studios but continued her practice as an artist. Julia O’Brien, later Fernes, the young woman depicted in this finely executed drawing, worked as a childminder and housekeeper in the Clarke household during the 1920s. At this time she also served as one of Margaret Clarke’s principal models, and appears frequently throughout the artist’s work. In her sensitively realised head studies and full-length portraits of Julia, Clarke often conveys her in a pensive mood during moments of introspection. In this intimate portrayal she skilfully captures a sense of the young woman’s innocence and vulnerability, as well as her distinctive features and long limbs. A critic celebrated her ‘remarkable drawings in which individuality is caught in a few swift economical lines’ (The Irish Independent, 10 January 1939).
March 2016
InscriptionOn verso, upper right (in charcoal): [...]/In Th/was
ProvenanceBy descent to the Artist's son, the late David Clarke; Private Collection; purchased, Private Collection, 2007Exhibition HistoryMargaret Clarke – An Independent Spirit, F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio, Newry, 15 September - 18 November 2017