Painter, mural and tapestry designer and teacher, born in Dublin and married to the artist Anne Madden. He studied chemistry at Trinity College, Dublin, 1936–7, and worked in the family oil refining business in the late-1930s. In 1938 decided to paint full-time, but was self-taught, studying in London and continental galleries. Returning to Dublin in 1940, he worked on a series of tinker paintings, stained glass, theatre designs and murals, then settled in London in 1946, producing his first tapestries two years later. Had first solo show at Gimpel Fils in 1947, at Esther Robles Gallery, Los Angeles, in 1960 and in Switzerland at Galerie Charles Lienhard in 1961. Notable among later shows was a retrospective at Irish Museum of Modern Art, Kilmainham, 1996–7, and in 2001 New Paintings at Gimpel Fils and Abusson Tapestries at Agnew.

Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)


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