Clarke Studios and the Irish Foreign Missions: Windows with A Very Irish Look in Africa

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 book assesses how Clarke and his studios responded to public and private commissions in glass and in illustration. Clarkes 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 Clarkes contribution to post-independence society in Ireland. Its scholarly essays highlight the impact of patronage, public reception, advertising, propaganda, war and memory on Clarkes work, placing it within a larger political, artistic and cultural context.