Mainie Jellett (1897 - 1944)
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Mainie Jellett (1897 - 1944) "Seated Nude" Watercolour, 8¾” x 11¾”
Mainie Jellett was one of the most important Irish artists of the twentieth century, who alongside her fellow Irish artist and good friend, Evie Hone was responsible for introducing Cubism to Ireland. Her early teachers included Irish artists, May Manning and Norman Garstin, and the English painter, Walter Sickert. She studied art in London at the Westminister School of Art, and it was there, as a student of Sickert, that she first met fellow Irish artist, Evie Hone.The setting for this watercolour painting of a nude has been identified by Irish art historian, Bruce Arnold, as being the life drawing room in the Westminster School of Art, where Jellett was a student from 1917 to 1919.
Together with Evie Hone, Mainie Jellett travelled to Paris to study with French artist, Andre Lhote, who was a renowned teacher and theorist who practiced a modified version of Cubism. In 1922 Jellett and Hone both began studying with Albert Gleizes, one of the original members of the Cubist group of artists. They then went on to collaborate with him for the next ten years in his development of principles for abstract painting.
Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone were instrumental in introducing modern art to Irish audiences, and are credited with holding the first ever exhibition of abstract paintings in Ireland. Mainie Jellett's paintings did not receive a favourable reception when she first exhibited in her native Dublin in 1923. The writer and painter, George Russell attacked her work, describing it as 'artistic malaria'. In association with Albert Gleizes she had developed the theory of 'translation and rotation', where the viewer was encouraged to see the logical progression of colours and forms within the painting. During the 1930's Jellett's style evolved from the complete abstraction that she had practiced in the 1920's to become more semi-abstract and slightly more realistic. Even so, she rarely used titles for her paintings.
Jellett returned to Ireland to teach and to promote modernism in Irish art. She travelled widely, giving many lectures and broadcasts. She was a founder member of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1943 , a group which included fellow Irish artists, Norah McGuinness, Evie Hone and Louis le Brocquy, and which was established to promote abstract expressionsist and modern art in Ireland, in reaction to the more traditional art forms favoured by the Royal Hibernian Academy and the National College of Art.
Together with Evie Hone, Mainie Jellett travelled to Paris to study with French artist, Andre Lhote, who was a renowned teacher and theorist who practiced a modified version of Cubism. In 1922 Jellett and Hone both began studying with Albert Gleizes, one of the original members of the Cubist group of artists. They then went on to collaborate with him for the next ten years in his development of principles for abstract painting.
Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone were instrumental in introducing modern art to Irish audiences, and are credited with holding the first ever exhibition of abstract paintings in Ireland. Mainie Jellett's paintings did not receive a favourable reception when she first exhibited in her native Dublin in 1923. The writer and painter, George Russell attacked her work, describing it as 'artistic malaria'. In association with Albert Gleizes she had developed the theory of 'translation and rotation', where the viewer was encouraged to see the logical progression of colours and forms within the painting. During the 1930's Jellett's style evolved from the complete abstraction that she had practiced in the 1920's to become more semi-abstract and slightly more realistic. Even so, she rarely used titles for her paintings.
Jellett returned to Ireland to teach and to promote modernism in Irish art. She travelled widely, giving many lectures and broadcasts. She was a founder member of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1943 , a group which included fellow Irish artists, Norah McGuinness, Evie Hone and Louis le Brocquy, and which was established to promote abstract expressionsist and modern art in Ireland, in reaction to the more traditional art forms favoured by the Royal Hibernian Academy and the National College of Art.