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Brief Biography-Patrick Patrick Tuohy was born in North Frederick Street, Dublin, in 1894. His father, a doctor, was disappointed that his son was born with deformed fingers on his left hand and could not be a surgeon; however, at the age of twelve, he began to show his talents at oil painting when holidaying in Wicklow. Tuohy later studied at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art and became a disciple of William Orpen. He first exhibited in 1911 and won the Taylor award in 1915. He spent the Easter rising as a volunteer in the GPO, after which his father, who was also there, helped him escape and arranged for him to go to Spain.
In Spain he taught at the Colegio de Las Madres Irlandesas in Madrid. He spent his free time in the Prado, studying masters such as Murillo and Zurbarán. Velázquez influenced him the most and El Greco to a lesser degree. He returned from Madrid in late 1917.
In Dublin, the nuns of Loretto commissioned an altarpiece from him, and Tuohy started to exhibit his works at the RHA. He visited Italy and painted James Joyce in Paris along with his family. Tuohy spent 1923 to 1927 in Dublin, teaching and completing commissions.
In 1927 he went to South Carolina, where he argued with sitters about the state of the union and fell into depression. Then, he fared better in New York and found agreeable company and circumstances. Finally, however, after a trip to Dublin for a short stay, his mental state deteriorated somewhat back in New York. In 1930 he was found dead in his gas-filled apartment, where he had been lying for a week. Tuohy was only thirty-six, had he lived to old age; he may have equalled the foremost masters of Europe in his time. |
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