The definitive biography of Clarke and a critical survey of his oeuvre--out of print for more than 15 years, now with new images and additional material

Stained glass, symbolism, decadence, Celtic mysticism, National Romanticism, Art Nouveau, and the Ballets Russes--all these elements claim a place in the definition of the art of Harry Clarke (1887-1931), the Dublin artist now recognized internationally as a bizarre genius of his age. As an Irish Symbolist, his work is analogous with that of his friends W.B. Yeats and George Russell (AE), as well as the early James Joyce. AE rightly prophesized the fascination his work would hold for future generations of collectors. Whether in stained glass or in book illustration, his all too rare work has, over the past two decades, become increasingly sought after. This book provides a chronological and contextual framework of study for his ceaseless and varied output--in Dublin, London, the Aran Islands, Glasgow, Paris, and finally America. In Clarke, a fundamentally Arts and Crafts ideology is fused with a Celtic Revivalist spirit seeking expression in a modern idiom during a key period in Ireland's history.

When she died in 1955, Geddes was described as 'the greatest stained glass artist of our time' whose monumental directness of treatment (whatever the scale) constituted 'a revival of the mediaeval genius'. Yet a full appreciation of her powerful figurative art was limited to a relative few. Although critics praised the deeply spiritual and uncompromising skill of her craftsmanship - 'Nowhere in modern glass is there a more striking example of a courageous adventure in the medium' (her 1919 Duke of Connaught War Memorial in Ottawa), her 'power of simplifying without loss of meaning' (her great Wallsend Crucifixion window of 1922), and 'the fine sensibility and deep intelligence' of her majestic 64-light Te Deum rose window to the king of the Belgians (1934-8) - her often out-of-the-way windows need to be seen in situ. Battling with ill health, like her better-known pupil and contemporary, Evie Hone, she became a major figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts movement and 20th-century British stained glass revival, a medieval-modernist of rare intellect, skill and aesthetic integrity. This profusely illustrated contextual study of her life and work draws on hitherto unpublished primary sources to represent her unique artistic achievement during the turbulence of two world wars.