Helen Sophia O'Hara (1846–1920) was an Irish watercolour artist.

Life

Helen Sophia O'Hara was born in The Castle Portstewart,

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

, in 1846. She was the daughter of the Reverend James D. O'Hara. Her brother, H.S. O'Hara was the Bishop of Cashel and Emly, and Lismore, County Waterford. She lived with her friend and fellow artist

Fanny Currey Frances Wilmot "Fanny" Currey (30 May 1848 – 30 March 1917) was an Irish horticulturalist and watercolour painter. A founding member of Ireland's first amateur drawing society, the Water Colour Society of Ireland, Currey was widely exhi ...

at the Mall, Lismore, from 1898 until 1919. It is believed that O'Hara received no formal training and was self-taught. She died in Waterford in 1920.

Artistic work

O'Hara was a watercolour painter, whose work centred on landscapes and seascapes, as well as flower painting. She exhibited with the Royal Hibernian Academy from 1881 to 1894. She was a member of the

Belfast Art Society Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

(BAS), and although she retired in 1895, she was elected vice-president in 1896. Whilst living in Lismore with Currey, O'Hara illustrated a number of Currey's children's books. Her work was exhibited with the Society of Women Artists, the

Dudley Gallery Dudley Museum and Art Gallery was a public museum and art gallery located in the town centre of Dudley in the West Midlands, England. It was opened in 1883, situated within buildings on St James's Road, and remained at that site until its closur ...

, and the

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI), initially called the New Society of Painters in Water Colours, is one of the societies in the Federation of British Artists, based in the Mall Galleries in London. History In 1831 the so ...

. She exhibited over 100 artworks, landscapes and seascapes, with the

Water Colour Society of Ireland Water Colour Society of Ireland (WCSI) is a watercolour society in Ireland, founded in 1870. The Society held its first exhibition in the Courthouse, Lismore, County Waterford in May 1871. History The ''Water Colour Society of Ireland (WCSI)'' w ...

from 1892 to 1913. O'Hara was elected an honorary member of the BAS in 1904 along with

Mildred Anne Butler Mildred Anne Butler (11 January 1858 – 11 October 1941) was an Irish artist, who worked in watercolour and oil of landscape, genre and animal subjects. Butler was born and spent most of her life in Kilmurry, Thomastown, County Kilkenny and ...

, John Lavery, and Frank Spenlove-Spenlove. The Ulster Museum holds a number of her works.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OHara, Helen Sophia 1846 births 1920 deaths Irish illustrators Irish women illustrators Flower artists Irish watercolourists 19th-century Irish painters 20th-century Irish painters 19th-century Irish women artists 20th-century Irish women artists Artists from County Londonderry People from Portstewart People from Lismore, County Waterford Artists from County Waterford 19th-century women painters