Described by Brian Fallon as a ‘woman of two worlds – German by birth, upbringing and artistic training, but also Irish by adoption involvement and sympathy’, Imogen Stuart is one of Ireland’s best-known artists with major works sited throughout the country.  Thousands of shoppers and children flock around her ‘Fiddler of Dooney’ figures in the Stillorgan shopping centre; UCD students will be familiar with the Pangur Bán sculpture in wood at Belfield; and many people have passed the landmark arch in the square in Ballymore Eustace.  But it is her ecclesiastical commission work for which she is best known.  These include the Stations of the Cross in Ballintubber Abbey; the interiors of Castleknock church and Burt Church (which was subsequently voted ‘Irish Building of the 20^th Century’); and the enormous bronze of Pope John Paul II in Maynooth, to name but a few.   

The eldest daughter of Germany’s leading art critic of the thirties, she was born into a cultured Berlin family and began to sculpt from a very early age.  Her idyllic childhood was affected by the rise of Nazism in Germany and at one stage her father Bruno E. Werner was forced to go underground when it was discovered that he had had a Jewish mother.  The rest of the family evacuated to Bavaria, where they were reunited just after the war.  In 1945 Imogen became a pupil of the expressionist sculptor Otto Hitzberger, who was a retired professor from the renowned Hochschule fur Bildener Kunste in Berlin.  He taught her modelling, carving, relief work and how to handle different types of wood and stone.

In 1948 a young Irishman came to study sculpture with Hitzberger – he was Ian Stuart, the son of writer Francis Stuart and Iseult Gonne, the daughter of Maud Gonne.  Imogen visited Ireland with him in 1949 where she became interested in Irish saints and scholars, such as St Brigid and St Kevin, and their connection to nature.  Although she had been raised a Lutheran, she decided to convert to Catholicism and was subsequently rebaptised and reconfirmed.  Imogen and Ian married in 1951 and lived in Laragh Castle near Glendalough.

Throughout this time, Imogen was always working – she received many commissions and also regularly exhibited at the annual RHA and Living Art exhibitions.  In 1961 she moved to Sandycove in Dublin and in 1970, she and Ian separated.  A member of Aosdana since 1981, she was also elected a full member of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1990 and Professor of Sculpture by the RHA in 2000.  A major book on her life, with essays by Brian Fallon and Peter Harbison and a catalogue of her work to date, has just been published by Four Courts Press. 

Imogen is closely associated with portrait commissions and her most well-known sitter was former President Mary Robinson which was commissioned for Aras an Uachtarain in 1998.   Over the last twenty years or so she has concentrated on making sculpture for herself.  Her recent show at the Solomon Gallery in 2002 was her first solo exhibition for many years and spanned over twenty-five years of work from 1977-2002.  She exhibited unique wood carvings, bronzes sculptures, wall reliefs and important maquette studies for some of her major religious commissions.  

A major retrospective exhibition of Imogen’s very large-scale work and commission pieces was held at the RHA Gallagher Gallery from 15 March – 28 April 2002.  The retrospective revealed Imogen Stuart as a sculptor of immense strength, grace and beauty and one of the finest artists of her generation. Whether the pieces are sacred or secular, small or large, in wood, bronze or stone, her superb craftsmanship and soulful humanity still shine through.

1927                Born in Berlin
1945-50        Studied under Otto Hitzberger, former Professor at                     
                   the Hochschule Fur Bildende Kunste, Berlin

1949-50           First visit to Ireland

1981                Elected Member of Aosdana

1990                Elected Full Member of the Royal Hibernian Academy

2000                Elected Professor of Sculpture, Royal Hibernian Academy

2002                Honorary Doctorate, Trinity College Dublin

2004                Honorary Doctorate, Maynooth College

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

1949-2006       Royal Hibernian Academy

1949-1991       Irish Exhibition of Living Art

1962                Salzburg Biennale, Christlicher Kunst der Gegenwart

1972                Oireachtas Art Exhibition, Dublin

                        Irish Pavilion, Expo New York

1973                Retrospective Exhibition, An tOireachtas, Trinity College, Dublin

1983                Self-Portrait, National Self-Portrait Collection, Limerick

                        (also toured to National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin)

1987                Irish Women Artists from the 18^th Century to the Present Day,

                        Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin

1988                Figurative Image, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin 2

1988-99           Aer Rianta Gateway to Art, Dublin Airport

1990-1998       Banquet Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin

1992                Represented in the Great Book of Ireland, IMMA, Dublin

                        Retrospective Exhibition, The Square, Tallaght, Co Dublin

1996                                Women Sculptors, Solomon Gallery, Dublin

1997                Little Sculpture II, Solomon Gallery, Dublin

2002                                Retrospective, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin

Solo Exhibition, Solomon Gallery, Dublin

2005                            Sculpture in Gardens, Solomon Gallery at Blackrock, Co. Dublin                        

2008                            The Secret Garden, Solomon Gallery at Iveagh Gardens, Dublin                        

 

AWARDS

1960                Travel Scholarship, Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste, Berlin

1972                Oireachtas Art Exhibition Award

1997                Receives D O’Sullivan Graphic Supplies Award, RHA Annual Exhibition

1999                Receives ESB Keating McLoughlin Award, RHA Annual Exhibition

2002                Honorary Doctorate, Trinity College, Dublin

SELECTED COMMISSIONS & COLLECTION

Arts Block, University College Dublin                        

National Self-Portrait Collection, Limerick                       

National Memorial, Tyrrellspass, Co Westmeath            

AIB Bank                                                                     

Aras an Uachtarain, Dublin                                     

Arch of Peace, Market Square, Cavan Town                

The Grave of President Childers, Co Wicklow                      

Bust of Sean McBride, Iveagh House, Dublin             

The Ark Children’s Cultural Centre, Temple Bar                  

Honan Chapel, University College Cork

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin

Basilica & Fountain Wall, Knock, Co Mayo               

Galway Cathedral, Co Galway,

Armagh Cathedral

St Patrick’s Purgatory, Lough Derg

Longford Cathedral

Dublin Airport Church

Artist in Charge- Belvedere College Chapel

Maynooth College, Co Kildare

Church of St Michael, Dun Laoghaire

Armagh Cathedral

Castleknock Parish Church             

Curragh Camp Church, Co Kildare

Artist in Charge- St Stephen’s, Killiney                                    

Muckross Church, Co. Kerry 

St Patrick Standing Stone, Church of Ireland College of Education, Rathmines

Madonna & Child Standing Stone, Mary Immaculate Training College, Limerick

Click here to find out more about Imogen Stuart RHA and the history of the Beehive Hut.