John Lavery: A Painter and his World

by Kenneth McConkey

A friend of Whistler and Rodin, he was feted at the Venice Biennale and became a Royal Academician and Official War Artist. During these years, he was part of the international community at Tangier, where he established a winter studio. At the time of the struggle for Irish independence he painted portraits of the rebel leaders, including an extraordinary portrait of the patriot, Michael Collins, on his deathbed. A few years later an iconic image of his wife, Hazel, was used on the Irish currency.

Winters in the 1920s were often spent in Florida or on the Riviera, savouring a Scott Fitzgerald lifestyle. Five years before his death in 1941, he set off for Hollywood to paint portraits of the stars. This new account is the result of painstaking research that adds greatly to our knowledge of the painter, the Edwardian art world and many of his distinguished contemporaries.

248 pages, Hardcover

First published May 16, 2010

About the author

Kenneth McConkey is Professor of Art History and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Northumbria at Newcastle. He has written extensively about late Victorian and Edwardian painting.