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 artist’s character and spirit.”1
In Waterford the artist lived in Corballymore, Dunmore East and was a pupil of Bishop Foy School, later attending The King’s 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 King’s 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 artist’s works were to be exhibited in the newly formed Le Musée Schwatschke. However, government restrictions held up the project and it was instead transferred to Ireland and built near the artist’s 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 Raisonné 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 King’s 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 King’s 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 artist’s works were to be exhibited in the newly formed Le Musée Schwatschke. However, government restrictions held up the project and it was instead transferred to Ireland and built near the artist’s 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 Raisonné of the first 1,000 works. Mary Robertson 1996. Minerva, London/Washington. ISBN 1 86106 023 8.
-
'LETTER FROM MARY ELLEN IN NEW YORK, 1999'
- Price Realised: €440
- Sale: 24 March 2025
- oil and collage element on canvas
- 19¾ x 27¾in. (50.17 x 70.49cm)
-
'BALDERDASH, 2009'
- Price Realised: €440
- Sale: 25 July 2022
- oil on canvas
- 17½ x 13½in. (44.45 x 34.29cm)
-
'ANCESTRAL PORTRAIT'
- Price Realised: €406
- Sale: 19 November 2001
- oil on canvas
- 30 by 25cm., 12 by 10in.
-
'PORTRAIT OF MARTIN G'
- Price Realised: €380
- Sale: 13 December 2023
- oil on canvas
- 20 x 16in. (50.80 x 40.64cm)
-
'A STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION'
- Price Realised: €360
- Sale: 14 June 2021
- oil on canvas
- 12 x 9½in. (30.48 x 24.13cm)
-
'THE END OF A LOST BEGINNING, 2024'
- Price Realised: €320
- Sale: 30 March 2026
- oil on canvas
- 27½ x 19½in. (69.85 x 49.53cm)
-
'BALDERDASH, 2009'
- Price Realised: €300
- Sale: 15 March 2010
- oil on canvas
- 44 by 34cm., 17.5 by 13.5in.
-
'DEUX DAMES, EATON PLACE, LONDON,1968'
- Price Realised: €260
- Sale: 09 December 2018
- ink on paper
- 21 x 17in. (53.34 x 43.18cm)