The unsung hero of Irish modernism
canadian goose jacket Discovering the breadth of her work over the past 10 years has been like uncovering an unknown or reluctant Picasso, over and over, and over. How she managed to live her long, modest and extraordinarily productive life without exploding with frustration at the lack of recognition for her work is a mystery. canadian goose jacket
canada goose uk shop Swanzy’s dedication to painting was unstinting, her talent unquestionable, however, hers is not a familiar name outside the connoisseurship of Irish collectors and historians. She has never reached the status of her canada goose outlet store toronto contemporaries Jack canada goose outlet locations in toronto Yeats, William Orpen or Paul Henry or for that matter her fellow, more canada goose jacket outlet uk familiar female artists, buy canada goose uk such as Mainie Jellett or Evie Hone. Swanzy doesn’t have the same canada goose outlet phone number level canada goose outlet store near me of public recognition and the reasons are complex. canada goose uk shop
canada goose coats This is an artist who had 15 one person exhibitions in her lifetime canada goose outlet shop while also participating in the established Irish exhibitions at the RHA, the Society of Dublin Painters and the inaugural Irish Exhibition of Living Art. Swanzy canada goose outlet online store review also had solo exhibitions in America, London and Paris, was a member of the Beaux Arts after 1919 and served on the Paris Salon des Indpendants organising committee in 1920. She exhibited with her European contemporaries Pablo Picasso, George Braque, Marc Chagall and Raoul Dufy in London’s St George’s gallery in https://www.canadagoose-jackets-online.com 1946. Few, if any, Irish artists have ever achieved so much. So why is her work not held in greater public knowledge, either in Ireland, London or indeed Europe? canada goose coats
Canada Goose Outlet Modesty and timing seem to have been the major forces that held Swanzy’s reputation in check, also her work was largely undated until the 1930s, making it awkward for art historians to appreciate her progression in the more recent discussions of Irish women painters. Stylistically, she is a chameleon and while her shifts make sense in the broader canvas of social, political and artistic changes, they don’t always make it easy to recognise her work. Canada Goose Outlet
cheap Canada Goose Swanzy was canada goose outlet 2015 in the extraordinary position of being in Paris before World War I when modern art was born. She witnessed the canada goose outlet uk sale first exhibitions of the Fauves, the Cubists, the Futurists, then later on Dada and Surrealism. Some of these major trends she ignored, others she assimilated, digesting and creating her own unique interpretations. cheap Canada Goose
canada goose Like many artists, she distrusted galleries, they belonged to the world of commerce and publicity, not the proper home of the true artist. She chose to sell her work privately from the mid 1920s until the 1970s and to compound matters, she was incredibly shy. Swanzy believed the artist’s job was to make art and follow one’s vision; her family background taught her modesty and to hide her light under the proverbial bushel. canada goose
buy canada goose jacket The lack of strong commercial backing is certainly one of the reasons Swanzy is not better known. The contingent lack of investment in her career meant that no illustrated catalogues were produced and her record suffered as a result. She was in fact a victim of her own independence. In her nineties, she stated that had she been a Henry and not a Mary, her life would have been very different. buy canada goose canada goose outlet jacket
Canada Goose online She was right; her being female is a significant, contributory factor in her limited reputation. In the received view of history, women’s participation in the events of the day is sporadically and somewhat generically reported, at least that was the case until ‚The Waking the canada goose outlet sale Feminist‘ debate prompted a more cohesive approach to the version of Irish history around the commemoration of 1916. In order to understand Swanzy’s limited public profile, I decided to follow the money as canada goose outlet vancouver a route through the weight of received opinion. I began this search in 2007 when Swanzy works were achieving good prices. Canada Goose online
Canada Goose sale Yet in broad public knowledge, she remained largely unknown. My research also started before the digital project had taken canada goose outlet price hold in our museums or galleries. Swanzy canada goose jacket outlet store might not even have been hung when I was looking for further examples of her work and she was most visible online, through the art market in Ireland and London. It seemed odd that her canada goose shop uk paintings were fetching good prices and yet the breadth of her output was unavailable across the national collections. Her cubist paintings were the most well known with the landscapes from Samoa and Europe coming a close second. Canada Goose sale
canada goose uk black friday Significant sums of money were changing hands at auction, although this did not seem to have been the case during her lifetime. Swanzy, who was responsible for this extensive outpouring of canada goose outlet mall knowledge, humanity and vision had lived frugally on her limited inheritance while being documented as canada goose outlet black friday sale a wealthy Anglo Irish female painter. A big disconnect was going on between canada goose jacket outlet sale fact and received history it seemed canada goose uk black friday.