In this interesting historical look at the chronology of Irish painters given as this is Irish-American (ART) History Month, this week's artist was born in a time span of the mid time of two centuries! It was a time of so many major art movements.
The artist, Paul Henry, was born in Belfast, Ireland (1876-1958). He studied art both in Ireland and in France. Eventually, returning to his beloved northern Ireland where he chronicled the spare life of the locals and the environment.
His works, during this period, depict the hard lives as men set out to sea and women gleaned potatoes from the fields. In the process of his paintings, he also captured the movement of sky and sea in the relentless changes of his island country.
Henry, like Van Gogh, is regarded as a "post-impressionist." In small ways, there's a similarity in their works and also their subjects. (Although VG went further into the Modern than Henry)
An interesting fact about Paul Henry was that he was color-blind on the red-green spectrum. Whether there was another issue that caused that condition is unknown. However, he lost his sight when he was in his 69th year and never regained it.
Imagine the direction his art might have taken if he had been able to paint from post-WW2 up to mid-Century and chronical the economic and life changes that came to Ireland.
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