Harry Clarke was Ireland's greatest stained-glass artist and an illustrator of genius, whose works have been collector's items for decades. Over his short lifetime he produced a plethora of elaborate designs that have been a source of endless fascination and inspiration. In this collection, 30 of his most famous designs have been redrawn in black and white to create intricate pictures, ideal for testing the bounds of your imagination. Suitable for children.

Strangest genius

Dark Beauty focuses on the minute detail in Harry Clarke’s stained-glass windows, particularly in the borders and lower panels of his work. Clarke’s brilliance as a graphic artist is clearly visible in his book illustrations, which are imbued with precise attention to intricate designs, and he applied the same lavish focus to every facet of his stained glass. The title ‘Dark Beauty’ refers to the duality of Clarke’s work that sees delicate angels juxtaposed with macabre, grotesque figures, and represents the partially hidden details that dwell in the background of his windows – motifs, accessories, flora, fauna and diminutive characters – which may be missed in light of the dominance of the central subjects. The authors spent many years photographing Clarke’s windows in Ireland, England, America and Australia, and the resulting 60,000 photos have been carefully whittled down to 500 glorious images. Dark Beauty will provide lovers of Clarke’s stained glass with the opportunity to view previously obscured or unnoticed details in all their unique beauty and inspire their own travels to view Clarke’s work.

Stained glass, Symbolism, Decadence, Celtic mysticism, Art Nouveau and the Ballets Russes - all these elements claim a place in the definition of Harry Clarke. Born a century ago, this Dublin artist, son of an English father and an Irish mother, worked intensely at his art, as if conscious that death would overtake him at an early age. Clarke is now recognized internationally as a bizarre genius of his age, as the Irish Beardsley. This is the story of a questing soul with a complex imagination who produced prolifically and with outstanding originality. His skill and vision has not been equaled and this book is based on a study which won the 1984 CINOA Art History Laureate and is richly illustrated, bringing the range and importance of Clarke's work to general attention.

HARRY CLARKE (1889-1931) was a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts movement and is best known for his stained glass designs and book illustrations. This collection concentrates on his work for various published books. His psychedelic with a hint of the grotesque black and white line work incorporated the most detailed and intricate textures. His distinctive style established him as one of the leading illustrators of the early 20th century. His first published work was 'Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen. A number of commissions followed including among others 'The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault', Goethe's 'Faust' and probably his best known work for Poe's 'Tales of Mystery and Imagination'. This superb compilation features over 120 examples of Clarke's colour paintings and black and white pen work, mostly full page. A comprehensive collection that is certain to delight lovers of the great artists from the 'Golden Age' of illustration.

"The work and career of the celebrated artist Harry Clarke is inextricably linked to the complex nature of early-twentieth-century Irish culture and of modernism. This beautifully designed and fully illustrated book assesses how Clarke and his studios responded to public and private commissions in glass and in illustration. Clarke's contribution is analysed in the context of the quest for a cohesive identity by the new Irish Free State and situated within international art and design movements. The book examines the complex relationship between visual art and literature that lies at the heart of Clarke's contribution to post-independence society in Ireland. Its scholarly essays highlight the impact of patronage, public reception, advertising, propaganda, war and memory on Clarke's work, placing it within a larger political, artistic and cultural context. Essential reading for art lovers and scholars alike, Harry Clarke and Artistic Visions of the New Irish State will appeal to anyone interested in the arts of Ireland, and the history and development of early- to mid-twentieth-century visual and material culture"--Inside front flap.

Harry Clarke, Irish stained-glass artist and illustrator, is confined to a Swiss sanatorium, suffering from Tuberculosis, far from his family and his work in the Studios in Dublin. Ravaged by illness, the rejection of the Geneva Window, and the effects of medication, Clarke is visited by friends, both real and imaginary. As darkness falls on a January evening in 1931, the arrival of his two best friends unleashes an inner psychic battle to free himself from the hellish fears of his childhood and to accomplish his one final quest, to travel back home. This drama in three acts is a fictional account of the final day of Harry Clarke.

»Landor’s Cottage« is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, originally published in 1849. EDGAR ALLAN POE was born in Boston in 1809. After brief stints in academia and the military, he began working as a literary critic and author. He made his debut with the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket in 1838, but it was in his short stories that Poe's peculiar style truly flourished. He died in Baltimore in 1849.

'Nightmares in Decay' features full-page reproductions of all 32 of Clarke's Poe illustrations, as well as vignettes and variations.