Sir John Lavery
1856-1941 Ireland/Impressionism-en plein air
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Brief Biography-Sir John Lavery was born in Belfast in 1856 and raised in Scotland. He was an apprentice photographer for three years and set up a studio tinting prints and colouring. Lavery spent a year in London studying at Heatherley’s School before going to France in 1882. There he entered the Académie Julien and was greatly influenced by William Adolphe Bouguereau. The Belgium artist Alfred Stevens also impressed him and, most importantly, Jules Bastien-Lepage. He painted the bridge at Grez fourteen times. In 1887, Lavery met James McNeill Whistle rand they became friends, receiving his knowledgeable instruction. From 1890, he travelled to Morocco and Europe, visiting Spain, where the works of Velasquez influenced him. During the war, Lavery was an official war artist but did his painting in England due to an injury in a car crash. He received a knighthood after the war. In the 1920s, he became involved in Irish politics and painted dominant figures on both sides of the spectrum. His wife Hazel appeared in the Irish pound note until 1976. Sir John Lavery died in Kilkenny in 1941 at the ripe age of 84. |
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