Harry Clarke
Harry Clarke was born in Dublin, the second son of Joshua Clarke who had come to Ireland from Leeds to establish a stained-glass studio and church-decorating business in 1886. Harrys instruction in stained-glass began at an early-age as both he and his brother were destined to work in the family studio. In 1906 he began to attend night-classes in the Dublin Metropolitan School until a scholarship awarded to him in 1910 enabled him to study there on a full-time basis. www.whytes.ie He submitted entries to the National Competition in 1911, 1912 and 1913 and on all three occasions was awarded the only gold medal for work in stained glass. He soon persuaded his father to allow him to travel to London to pursue a career in illustration. At the end of that year he was awarded a scholarship from the Irish government which enabled him to travel to France. In 1914 Clarke married his fellow-artist Margaret Crilley. Back in London Clarke approached Harraps publishers and was commissioned to illustrate Hans Christian Andersens Fairy Tales. He went on to illustrate four more works for Harraps, including Poes Tales of Mystery and Imagination in 1919. Clarke first exhibited with the Arts and Crafts Society of Ireland in 1917 and remained actively involved in the organisation from then on. In 1915 he received his first important commission in stained-glass for the Honan Hostel Chapel in Cork. This commission firmly established his reputation. In 1921, Joshua Clarke died, yet his two sons were determined to keep the family business open. The work-load increased as they received important commissions, and in 1924 larger premises were sought for the studio. In that same year his series of panels illustrating Keats Eve of Saint Agnes won for him a gold-medal in the Aanoch Tailteann. In 1925, he was elected as a member of the RHA. A bad bicycle accident the following year caused a rapid decline in the artists health and, at his doctors insistence he went to Switzerland in 1929, hoping to find a cure for the tuberculosis from which he was then suffering. Meanwhile he continued to focus on his last great project - The Geneva Window, which had been commissioned by the Irish government for the International Labour Building of the League of Nations. The work was rejected by the government, although they still paid Clarke the agreed sum. After her husbands death in 1931, Margaret Clarke bought the window back from the government and it was exhibited at the Hugh Lane Gallery for some years. However, in 1988 the work was purchased by a private collector and is now on permanent exhibit at the Wolfsonian Foundation, Miami. Examples of Clarkes works can be found in institutions around the world, including the Victoria and Albert Museum and National Gallery of Ireland. His studio remained open until 1973. At the end of the 1970s a retrospective exhibition of his work was held in Dublin, Cork and Belfast. www.whytes.ie
-
'THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA'
- Price Realised: 16,000
- Sale: 02 March 2009
- original pen and black and white ink illustration on Bristol board
- 20 by 15cm., 8 by 6in.
-
'ILLUSTRATION TO JOHN KEAT'S POEM, THE EVE OF ST. AGNES'
- Price Realised: 15,500
- Sale: 29 November 2010
- pencil, pen and ink and watercolour on Bristol board
- 36 by 27cm., 14.2 5 by 10.5in. (Including dense black 2cm. thick frame painted by the artist around the illustration) painted by the artist around the illustration)
-
![THE GOLD BUG [THERE FLASHED UPWARD A GLOW AND A GLARE] by Harry Clarke sold for 12,500 at Whyte's Auctions](/images/auction/858/63462.jpg "THE GOLD BUG [THERE FLASHED UPWARD A GLOW AND A GLARE] by Harry Clarke sold for 12,500 at Whyte's Auctions")
'THE GOLD BUG [THERE FLASHED UPWARD A GLOW AND A GLARE]'
- Price Realised: 12,500
- Sale: 31 May 2021
- ink
- 8½ x 7in. (21.59 x 17.78cm)
-
'STATIONS OF THE CROSS: JESUS CARRIES HIS CROSS and JESUS FALLS FOR THE FIRST TIME, 1927'
- Price Realised: 7,500
- Sale: 28 May 2018
- pencil and watercolour; (2)
- 14 x 8in. (35.56 x 20.32cm)
-
'THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD, 1922'
- Price Realised: 6,000
- Sale: 16 September 2019
- pen and ink on Bristol board
- 10½ x 8in. (26.67 x 20.32cm)
-
'ORIGINAL BORDER ILLUSTRATION FOR PAGE ONE OF IRELAND'S MEMORIAL RECORDS 1914 - 1918, PRINT FEATURED IN ALL VOLUMES,1922.'
- Price Realised: 5,200
- Sale: 16 September 2019
- ink on paper
- 16 x 13in. (40.64 x 33.02cm)
-
'THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD, 1922'
- Price Realised: 3,800
- Sale: 25 May 2020
- pen and ink on Bristol board
- 10½ x 8in. (26.67 x 20.32cm)
-
'PREFACE ILLUSTRATION TO FAUST BY GOETHE, FROM THE GERMAN BY JOHN AUSTER, 1925'
- Price Realised: 3,800
- Sale: 28 November 2016
- ink, watercolour, gold and silver paint over pencil
- 3Ύ x 5Όin. (9.53 x 13.34cm)
-
'AN ELEGANT COUPLE IN A GARDEN'
- Price Realised: 3,600
- Sale: 28 April 2008
- pencil with wash and touches of gold paint on paper
- 25 by 18cm., 10 by 7.25in.
-
'UNTITLED (QUEEN AND CANDELABRUM), c. 1912'
- Price Realised: 2,900
- Sale: 16 September 2019
- ink on paper
- 11½ x 8½in. (29.21 x 21.59cm)
-
![LEATHER BOUND SKETCHBOOK OF ILLUSTRATIONS, POEMS AND DRAWINGS, 1910-1914 [13 WORKS] by Harry Clarke sold for 2,800 at Whyte's Auctions](/images/archive/20160530/105_1.jpg "LEATHER BOUND SKETCHBOOK OF ILLUSTRATIONS, POEMS AND DRAWINGS, 1910-1914 [13 WORKS] by Harry Clarke sold for 2,800 at Whyte's Auctions")
'LEATHER BOUND SKETCHBOOK OF ILLUSTRATIONS, POEMS AND DRAWINGS, 1910-1914 [13 WORKS]'
- Price Realised: 2,800
- Sale: 30 May 2016
- watercolour; (5); ink; (5); charcoal; (2); pencil; (1)
- 8Ό x 5Ύin. (20.96 x 14.61cm)
-
'THE LORD HATH ARISEN - ILLUSTRATION TO GOETHE'S FAUST, 1925'
- Price Realised: 2,200
- Sale: 12 June 2005
- pen and ink over pencil
- 10 by 14cm., 4 by 5.5in.
-
'THE LADY OF DECORATION, 1914'
- Price Realised: 1,500
- Sale: 10 July 2023
- photolithographic print
- 20½ x 11Ύin. (52.07 x 29.85cm)
-
'COLLECTION OF HARRY CLARKE EPHERMERA'
- Price Realised: 1,300
- Sale: 30 May 2011
-
'Geoffrey C. Warren, Elixir of Life (Uisge Beatha), illustrated by Harry Clarke'
- Price Realised: 1,300
- Sale: 27 May 2006
-
'The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault'
- Price Realised: 1,200
- Sale: 26 May 2007
-
'Goethe, Faust, George Harrap & Co., London, 1925.'
- Price Realised: 1,000
- Sale: 18 February 2003
-
'Faust by Goethe, illustrated by Harry Clarke - special limited edition'
- Price Realised: 950
- Sale: 26 May 2007
-
'FAUST BY GOETHE'
- Price Realised: 680
- Sale: 28 November 2016
- illustrated book
-
'Edgar Allan Poe, Tales of Mystery and Imagination; illustrated by Harry Clarke'
- Price Realised: 460
- Sale: 09 December 2006
-
'Edgar Allan Poe, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, illustrated by Harry Clarke'
- Price Realised: 460
- Sale: 09 December 2006
-
'Various illustrated volumes and interpretative texts'
- Price Realised: 420
- Sale: 09 December 2006
-
'Nicola Gordon Bowe, The Life and Work of Harry Clarke'
- Price Realised: 420
- Sale: 12 June 2005
-
'ADVERTISING INSERTS FOR J. CLARKE AND SONS and HARRY CLARKE STUDIOS (SET OF NINE)'
- Price Realised: 400
- Sale: 05 April 2008
- eight folded sheets, printed both sides; one single
- 17 by 11cm., 6.75 by 4.25in.
-
'The Year's At The Spring: An Anthology of Recent Poetry'
- Price Realised: 380
- Sale: 18 November 2003
-
'TALES OF MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION, BY EDGAR ALLAN POE'
- Price Realised: 300
- Sale: 17 May 2008
-
![Edgar Allan Poe, Tales of Mstery and Imagination, Tudor Publishing Co., New York, [1933]. by Harry Clarke sold for 300 at Whyte's Auctions](/images/archive/20030429/254.jpg "Edgar Allan Poe, Tales of Mstery and Imagination, Tudor Publishing Co., New York, [1933]. by Harry Clarke sold for 300 at Whyte's Auctions")
'Edgar Allan Poe, Tales of Mstery and Imagination, Tudor Publishing Co., New York, [1933].'
- Price Realised: 300
- Sale: 29 April 2003
- 0 by 0cm., by in.
-
'The Year's at the Spring: An Anthology of Recent Poetry, illustrated by Harry Clarke'
- Price Realised: 260
- Sale: 26 May 2007