Leo Whelan

Whelan studied at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art under William Orpen, who considered him an artist of considerable promise. Orpen was not alone in this opinion, as Whelan was awarded a Taylor Scholarship in 1916 for The Doctor’s Visit, a work now in the NGI. Following the untimely death of his brother, Whelan moved to Kerry, where he continued to paint, and was elected ARHA in 1919. Three years later, he painted a group portrait of the General Headquarters Staff of the IRA, and in 1924 became a full member of the RHA. He served as a visiting teacher at the RHA Schools, was represented in exhibitions and publications in Ireland and Britain, and was appointed designer of the first Free State commemorative stamp, issued in 1929. He was represented at the 1932 Olympic Art Exhibition at Los Angeles, and continued for the following three decades to contribute to exhibitions throughout Ireland and abroad.

Whelan was best known as a portrait painter, whose sitters included figures from political, religious, professional and military circles. However, he also produced and exhibited numerous modern genre scenes, occasional landscapes, and informal portraits of Irish types.