CLARKE, Harry

"a bizarre genius of his age"

Born in Dublin, Henry Patrick Clarke was the son of a church decorator and stained glass artist. Harry won scholarships to study art and stained glass design both in Dublin and France, then returned to take over his father’s firm, becoming one of the foremost stained glass artists of the twentieth century. His window designs are finely drawn, using a palette of deep colours and an array of blues. Harry Clarke’s book illustrations rely on many of the same influences as his window designs; his use of defining black lines, mirroring the lead in his windows; the deep pre-Raphaelite colour schemes; the fine lines and art-nouveau style reminiscent of the works of Crane and Beardsley. Clarke died of Tuberculosis at the age of forty-two.

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