Edward McGuire (10 April 1932 – 26 November 1986) was an Irish painter.

Biography

The Irish portraitist, still-life artist and bird painter Edward McGuire was born in Dublin on 10 April 1932. He was the third eldest of two sons and two daughters of Edward McGuire, a businessman and sportsman, and Bridget McGuire (née Neary), of

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...

, County Down. He studied painting, drawing and the history of art at the

Accademia di belle arti di Roma The Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma is a public tertiary academy of art in Rome, Italy. It was founded in the sixteenth century, but the present institution dates from the time of the unification of Italy and the capture of Rome by the Kingdom ...

in 1953 and at the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

in 1954. In the early 1950s he befriended artists and writers such as

Patrick Swift Patrick Swift (1927–1983) was an Irish painter who worked in Dublin, London and the Algarve, Portugal. Overview In Dublin he formed part of the Envoy, A Review of Literature and Art, Envoy arts review / McDaid's pub circle of artistic and l ...

(who encouraged McGuire to paint),

Anthony Cronin Anthony Gerard Richard Cronin (28 December 1923 – 27 December 2016) was an Irish poet, arts activist, biographer, commentator, critic, editor and barrister. Early life and family Cronin was born in Enniscorthy, County Wexford on 28 Decembe ...

and

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. His early career as a painter was inf ...

(Slade"Freud apparently told Maguire he had little to learn from the place, and advised him to go ply his trade, which he did." - "Lucian Freud: Prophet of Discomfort", Mic Moroney © 2007 ''Irish Arts Review'
link
). He travelled in France and Italy from 1951 to 1953 and lived on the

Aran Islands The Aran Islands ( ; , ) or The Arans ( ) are a group of three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay, off the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a total area around . They constitute the historic barony (Ireland), barony of Aran in ...

off

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

from 1955 to 1956. From then until his death in November 1986, he resided in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

with his wife Sara (Sally) McGuire who died in May 2011.

Exhibitions

Edward McGuire's paintings were widely exhibited during his lifetime. He had solo shows at the Dawson Gallery, Dublin (A Recent Painting, 1969);

Taylor Galleries Taylor Galleries is a contemporary commercial art gallery in Dublin, Ireland. History Taylor Galleries opened in July 1978 ostensibly as a continuation of the Dawson Gallery – a gallery established by Leo Smith in 1944. John Taylor – wh ...

, Dublin (1983), and a retrospective at the Royal Hibernian Academy Gallagher Gallery (1991). In addition, he exhibited in such group art shows as: Irish Exhibition of Living Art (1953–1971);

Royal Hibernian Academy The Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823. Like many other Irish institutions, such as the Royal Irish Academy, the academy retained the word "Royal" after mo ...

(1962–1986); Hendriks Gallery, Dublin (1970); Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art (1971); Ulster Museum, Belfast (1973); Oireachtas (1973–1980); Cagnes-sur-Mer 6th International Festival of Painting (1974); Concours pour le Prix de Portrait Paul-Louis Weiller, Academie des Beaux-Arts, Paris (1979). All this, notwithstanding, McGuire used a laboriously meticulous painting technique which led to the completion of only about six works of art a year. McGuire's keen interest in bird painting stemmed from the association in his youth with a taxidermist at the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

in Dublin. McGuire purchased three stuffed specimens from Mr Williams, starting a bird collection whose members he painted repeatedly in intricate detail throughout his career.

Portraits

Edward McGuire was a prolific portrait artist and painted over 25 portraits of poets and writers. He first exhibited at the

(RHA) in 1962 and became an academician in 1978. His subjects included: Séamus Heaney (1974),

Pearse Hutchinson Pearse Hutchinson (16 February 1927 – 14 January 2012) was an Irish poet, broadcaster and translator. Childhood and education Hutchinson was born in Glasgow. His father, Harry Hutchinson, a Scottish printer whose own father had left Dublin to ...

(1970),

Michael Hartnett Michael Hartnett () (18 September 1941 – 13 October 1999) was an Irish poet who wrote in both English and Irish. He was one of the most significant voices in late 20th-century Irish writing and has been called "Munster's de facto poet laurea ...

(1971),

(1977), John Jordan,

Seán Ó Faoláin Seán Proinsias Ó Faoláin (27 February 1900 – 20 April 1991) was one of the most influential figures in 20th-century Irish culture. A short-story writer of international repute, he was also a leading commentator and critic. Biography Ó ...

(1978),

Ulick O'Connor Ulick O'Connor ( ; 12 October 1928 – 7 October 2019) was an Irish writer, historian and critic. Early life Born in Rathgar, County Dublin, in 1928 to Matthew O'Connor, the Dean of the Royal College of Surgeons, O'Connor attended Garbally ...

(1978), James White (1981), John Montague (1983) and

Liam Cosgrave Liam Cosgrave (13 April 1920 – 4 October 2017) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 1973 to 1977, Leader of Fine Gael from 1965 to 1977, Leader of the Opposition from 1965 to 1973, Minister for External Affairs fro ...

(1982).

Awards

A member of

Aosdána Aosdána ( , ; from , 'people of the arts') is an Irish association or academy of artists, each of whom must have produced a distinguished body of work of genuine originality. It was created in 1981 by the country's Arts Council on the initiati ...

from 1984, McGuire won numerous awards during his distinguished career, including the 1974 Festival International de la Peinture, Cagnes-sur-Mer; the

Douglas Hyde Douglas Ross Hyde (; 17 January 1860 – 12 July 1949), known as (), was an Irish academic, linguist, scholar of the Irish language, politician, and diplomat who served as the first president of Ireland from June 1938 to June 1945. He was a l ...

Gold Medal (1976) and the Marten Toonder Award (1978). He received an honourable mention in the Concours Paul-Louis Weiller (1979). His paintings are held in many private and public collections, including: the Ulster Museum, Belfast; the

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland () houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street, Dublin, Clare Street. It ...

; the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art in Dublin; The National Museum;

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

;

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

; University College Cork; Dublin City University. Among his awards were the Prix National from the Cagnes-sur-Mer 6th International Festival of Painting (1974); the Douglas Hyde Gold Medal (1976); the RHA Award (1976), and the Marten Toonder Award (1978). He received an honourable mention in the Concours Paul-Louis Weiller (1979).

Collections

His work is included in the collections of the

Limerick City Gallery of Art Limerick City Gallery of Art (LCGA; ) is an art museum in the city of Limerick, Ireland. It is run by Limerick City Council and is located in Pery Square, in the Newtown Pery area of the city. The gallery is housed in a Romanesque Revival bui ...

, Limerick;

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasures ...

, Belfast; the

; the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art in Dublin;

National Museum of Ireland The National Museum of Ireland () is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has three branches in Dublin, the arch ...

;

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

; PJ Carroll and Co.,

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) () is a Third-level education in the Republic of Ireland, university based on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Highe ...

Dublin Writers Museum The Dublin Writers Museum was a museum of literary history in Dublin, Ireland. It opened in November 1991, and was hailed as an "iconic" museum in Dublin. It closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Covid-19 pandemic, and was brought to an end in 2 ...

and the

Irish Museum of Modern Art The Irish Museum of Modern Art (), also known as IMMA, is Ireland's leading national institution for the collection and presentation of modern and contemporary art. It is located in Kilmainham, Dublin. History Irish art collector Gordon Lam ...

References

External links

Irish Arts Review

Dictionary of Irish People

Sailing to Byzantium: The Portraits of Edward McGuire

Arts Council

AskArt.com

Adams.ie
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGuire, Edward 1932 births 1986 deaths 20th-century Irish painters Irish male painters Irish modern painters Painters from Dublin (city) Alumni of University College London Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art 20th-century Irish male artists