PHANTOMS & PHANTASIES: Harry Clarke Watercolours

Harry Clarke, Aquarius (detail), 1920.

10 December 2021 – 14 February 2022

Our annual exhibition of Harry Clarke’s watercolours and ink drawings returns!

Following last year's online exhibition, Harry Clarke Marginalia , PHANTOMS & PHANTASIES presents all twenty-three of Harry Clarke’s watercolours and ink drawings from the collection.

Ranging from the artist’s studies for The Eve of St Agnes window to illustrations for “Star-Talk” by Robert Graves and Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination , these delicate works on paper are brought out for public view only once a year.

Upon the death of his father in 1921, Harry Clarke (1889-1931) took over the management of Joshua Clarke & Sons, the family stained-glass studios, which placed immense pressure on the already busy artist. The works displayed in this exhibition date from a prolific period in his career and were purchased directly from Clarke in 1924 through the gallery’s Gibson Bequest Fund.

Sinister and romantic, delight in the celestial figure of Aquarius, witness the terror of The Fall of the House of Usher , and be immersed in the nocturnal romance of Madeline and Porphyro on the Eve of St Agnes.

For a limited time only.

Curated by Dr Michael Waldron