John Schwatschke
Born to Austro-Irish parents, John Schwatschke is most widely known for his inventive caricature portraits. His study and interest in the face, and its expressions over a lifetime has produced some 2,500 portraits and bronze busts, recorded in the Schwatschke Archives, both in academic and caricature portraiture. As the New York critic A.G. Rothenberg wrote in 1996 of Schwatschke, The choice of subject and the depiction of feeling in the portrayal of his subjects is special, and shows it comes from an individual hand. It is an autograph of the artists character and spirit.1
In Waterford the artist lived in Corballymore, Dunmore East and was a pupil of Bishop Foy School, later attending The Kings Hospital Dublin. He went on to study art and architecture in Dublin & Munich, and was a project manager on two large construction projects in Jeddah, working for the Kings banker there.
His formal portrait sittings include those of Pres. E. de Valera (Chancellor NUI) whom he came to know over a two year period, and who told the artist Do one thing, and do it well, and I believe this should be art.2 Other sitters include Harold Robbins, Robert Mitchum, Ingrid Bergman, the Duke of Edinburgh (1976), Lunia Czechowska, Church Hierarchy, and the last portraits of Bernadette Greevy, Cyril Cusack and Noel Purcell (Carlow Town Collection).
In 1970-79 the artist had his studio in Provence at Mougins, where he rented an old mill house from the French singer Serge Reggiani, and was a neighbour of Pablo Picasso. It was here that some 200 of the artists works were to be exhibited in the newly formed Le Musιe Schwatschke. However, government restrictions held up the project and it was instead transferred to Ireland and built near the artists home at Carlow, opened 1976 by The Austrian Ambassador with Suzanne McDougald (closed 1994).
1. Interview with the Artist, Z. Medlow, 1994
2. Schwatschke, Biography & Catalogue Raisonnι of the first 1,000 works. Mary Robertson 1996. Minerva, London/Washington. ISBN 1 86106 023 8.
In Waterford the artist lived in Corballymore, Dunmore East and was a pupil of Bishop Foy School, later attending The Kings Hospital Dublin. He went on to study art and architecture in Dublin & Munich, and was a project manager on two large construction projects in Jeddah, working for the Kings banker there.
His formal portrait sittings include those of Pres. E. de Valera (Chancellor NUI) whom he came to know over a two year period, and who told the artist Do one thing, and do it well, and I believe this should be art.2 Other sitters include Harold Robbins, Robert Mitchum, Ingrid Bergman, the Duke of Edinburgh (1976), Lunia Czechowska, Church Hierarchy, and the last portraits of Bernadette Greevy, Cyril Cusack and Noel Purcell (Carlow Town Collection).
In 1970-79 the artist had his studio in Provence at Mougins, where he rented an old mill house from the French singer Serge Reggiani, and was a neighbour of Pablo Picasso. It was here that some 200 of the artists works were to be exhibited in the newly formed Le Musιe Schwatschke. However, government restrictions held up the project and it was instead transferred to Ireland and built near the artists home at Carlow, opened 1976 by The Austrian Ambassador with Suzanne McDougald (closed 1994).
1. Interview with the Artist, Z. Medlow, 1994
2. Schwatschke, Biography & Catalogue Raisonnι of the first 1,000 works. Mary Robertson 1996. Minerva, London/Washington. ISBN 1 86106 023 8.
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'FERNANDO'S HIDE AWAY, 2001'
- Price Realised: 4,400
- Sale: 19 February 2007
- oil on canvas
- 91 by 76cm., 36 by 30in.
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'LAST MAN OUT SWITCH OFF THE LIGHTS, 2006'
- Price Realised: 4,200
- Sale: 19 February 2007
- oil on canvas
- 51 by 76cm., 20 by 30in.
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'RENDEZVOUS AT EIGHT'
- Price Realised: 4,000
- Sale: 19 November 2002
- oil on canvas
- 36 by 46cm., 14 by 18in.
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'BLIND DATE'
- Price Realised: 3,900
- Sale: 22 February 2005
- oil on canvas
- 76 by 61cm., 30 by 24in.
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'UP AGAINST THE LAW'
- Price Realised: 3,682
- Sale: 13 March 2001
- oil on canvas
- 89 by 74cm., 35 by 29in.
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'BEAMERS OF THE PETROL CRISIS, 1973'
- Price Realised: 3,600
- Sale: 19 September 2006
- oil on canvas
- 193 by 122cm., 76 by 48in.
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'COMING AND GOING NOWHERE (HEUSTON STATION)'
- Price Realised: 3,600
- Sale: 19 February 2002
- oil on canvas
- 61 by 76cm., 24 by 30in.
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'THE 'ONCONVANIENCE' OF BEING SINGLE'
- Price Realised: 3,200
- Sale: 29 April 2003
- oil on canvas
- 91 by 76cm., 36 by 30in.
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'LES PARAPLUIES DE RUE FISHAMBLE'
- Price Realised: 3,000
- Sale: 30 November 2004
- oil on canvas
- 91 by 61cm., 36 by 24in.
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'THE WAITING ROOM'
- Price Realised: 3,000
- Sale: 18 February 2003
- oil on canvas
- 61 by 51cm., 24 by 20in.
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'POLITICS (TURN OF HTE CENTURY)'
- Price Realised: 3,000
- Sale: 08 May 2002
- oil on canvas
- 61 by 76cm., 24 by 30in.
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'PARTY AT KATE KARNEY'S'
- Price Realised: 2,800
- Sale: 16 September 2003
- oil on canvas
- 61 by 76cm., 24 by 30in.
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'THE ARTIST WITH DAME LAURA MCFLABBART, 1997'
- Price Realised: 2,600
- Sale: 09 December 2006
- oil on canvas
- 76 by 76cm., 30 by 30in.
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'LYRIC IN THE AFTERNOON'
- Price Realised: 2,600
- Sale: 17 February 2004
- oil on canvas
- 61 by 51cm., 24 by 20in.
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'ONE MORE BID, 2005'
- Price Realised: 2,400
- Sale: 27 May 2006
- oil on canvas
- 51 by 41cm., 20 by 16in.
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'MEMORIES, MEMORIES (LONG AFTER GAINSBOROUGH)'
- Price Realised: 2,400
- Sale: 12 June 2005
- oil on canvas
- 76 by 51cm., 30 by 20in.
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'NEXT PLEASE'
- Price Realised: 2,400
- Sale: 12 June 2005
- oil on canvas
- 61 by 51cm., 24 by 20in.
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'CHECK UP, 2007'
- Price Realised: 2,250
- Sale: 25 February 2008
- oil on canvas
- 51 by 41cm., 20 by 16in.
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'RISK EQUALISATION, 2005'
- Price Realised: 2,100
- Sale: 21 February 2006
- oil on canvas
- 51 by 41cm., 20 by 16in.
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'REHERSAL'
- Price Realised: 2,031
- Sale: 19 November 2001
- oil on canvas
- 91 by 76cm., 36 by 30in.
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'THE RED HAT'
- Price Realised: 2,000
- Sale: 17 September 2002
- oil on canvas
- 51 by 76cm., 20 by 30in.
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'SELF PORTRAIT, 2006'
- Price Realised: 1,800
- Sale: 17 May 2008
- oil on canvas board
- 41 by 32cm., 16 by 12.7 5in.
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'FINAL BID'
- Price Realised: 1,777
- Sale: 19 November 2001
- oil on canvas
- 81 by 61cm., 32 by 24in.
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'BETWEEN OURSELVES'
- Price Realised: 1,777
- Sale: 09 October 2001
- oil on canvas
- 76 by 61cm., 30 by 24in.
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'ENDURANCE'
- Price Realised: 1,700
- Sale: 10 December 2005
- oil on canvas
- 61 by 51cm., 24 by 20in.
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'A BREAK AT GOUGANBARRA, COUNTY CORK'
- Price Realised: 1,600
- Sale: 22 February 2005
- oil on canvas
- 76 by 91cm., 30 by 36in.
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'A KISS IS JUST A KISS'
- Price Realised: 1,500
- Sale: 15 December 2007
- oil on board
- 60 by 44cm., 23.5 by 17.5in.
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'PARTY PIECE'
- Price Realised: 1,500
- Sale: 09 December 2006
- oil on canvas
- 61 by 91cm., 24 by 36in.