"Irish Watercolors and Drawings offers a unique chronicle of Irish history. The exquisite watercolors, drawings, and pastels reproduced here capture a broad range of Irish experience, extending beyond picturesque landscapes and pretty colleens to Irish emigrants arriving in America, polar expeditions, Maori encampments, army barracks, horse races, taverns, grand country houses, and the interiors of Irish cabins." "Key Irish artists such as George Barret, Francis Danby, Frederick William Burton, and Jack Yeats, along with many less well known figures, are seen in historical and social contexts. Irish painters abroad - in North America, Australia, New Zealand, India, and elsewhere - are treated in a special section. Artists who visited and were inspired by Ireland are also represented." "The comprehensive text accompanies more than 400 illustrations, among them many unfamiliar works from museums and private collections around the world."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Since the middle of the nineteenth century the Yeats family have contributed on a virtually continuous basis to the cultural life of Ireland, in writing, theatre, painting and printing. Thanks to the generosity of the Yeats family and others, the National Gallery of Ireland possesses the most comprehensive collections of artworks by the family, embracing paintings, watercolors, drawings, sketchbooks, embroidery, and other media. This publication has been compiled to provide a commentary on the collection, providing a detailed analysis of the oil paintings, watercolors and drawings, together with more concise accounts of other material. The text includes a visual survey of the collection. -- Publisher description.

This is the first full-colour introduction to Irish painting. It brings together a carefully selected, stimulating and stunning display of paintings and details, creating at once an important picture book and a useful history of Irish painting. Dr Brian P. Kennedy's selection and his essays on the sixty-five painters included reflect his contention that Irish talent has been as evident in the visual arts as it has been in the world of literature. Using over one hundred images from private and public collections, his survey results in a comprehensive history revealing the major developments in Irish painting between 1640 and 1953. The extensive bibliography provides in itself a much-needed resource for anyone interested in Irish painting.

Leech painted portraits, landscapes and still lifes, including remarkable self-portraits, interiors and luxuriant aloes. Throughout his life he regularly exhibited in Ireland and England. The majority of his paintings are still in private hands and little known. This retrospective catalogue documents his reclusive life and confirms his place as a major Irish artist.