A new exhibition of the works of Belfast-born painter John Lavery is due to open at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin this Saturday.
John Lavery is best known for his portraits of famous people and for the classic Irish Bank note design which featured his wife Hazel, but the new exhibition shows his work had much broader range.
Director of the National Gallery of Ireland, Dr Caroline Campbell explains: "It focuses on the people, locations and sensations that John Lavery encountered in a life rich in travel and experience and shows a new dimension to the work of this much-loved painter."
John Lavery travelled the world studying art in Glasgow, London and Paris and spending time in Morocco, France, Switzerland, Spain and California.
He painted wherever he went, whether abroad for business or leisure, he never travelled without his painting kit – sometimes a small 'pochade' box, or on another occasions, a larger collapsible easel designed specifically for 25 x 30-inch canvases.
The works in the new exhibition show scenes from the many countries he visited.
The National Gallery’s Head Curator Dr Brendan Mooney said: "This exhibition provides a wonderful opportunity to showcase the remarkable breadth of Lavery’s subject. Well-travelled, curious and social, he felt compelled to record both the locations he visited and the people with whom he experienced those places. The works he produced on his travels, from France and Morocco to the United States, are alive with colour and movement."
Some of the paintings capture a moment in time. One from 1885 is called "Played" and shows a young woman striking a tennis ball. Tennis was just beginning to replace croquet as the favourite sport of the wealthy.
Kenneth McConkey, Emeritus Professor of Art History at the University of Northumbria said: "Why are John Lavery’s paintings worth looking at when so much visual pleasure comes from the screen of an iPhone these days? The answer is simply that he provides us with a world picture that spans the turn of the twentieth century when the issues we face had scarcely surfaced.
"This is not to deny the complexities of his era, but simply to observe that in no ordinary way he vividly reported on the people and places he saw around him.
"A boat passes under a bridge; a tennis player rallies vigorously; a snake charmer squats in the souk; a child looks out at us impassively; planes are taking off; and two stylish sunbathers are caught in an idle moment.
"These things come from crafted paint surfaces that stop us in our tracks and by lifting our eyes we discover in them a more satisfying and sustainable sense of visual pleasure."
The 'Lavery on Location' exhibition opens at the National Gallery of Ireland this Saturday.
