John Luke Biography

John Luke is considered among the greatest 20th century artists of Ireland. He demonstrated his exceptional talent in various areas of art, including painting, sculpting, murals, and printmaking. Despite taking up work initially, he didn’t defer from chasing his dream of making a career in fine arts. Contrary to his self portraits where he painted himself looking directly, with a confident stare, at the onlooker, his portraits of other people showed them looking elsewhere in the distance. Although he became famous as a landscape painter, but he also went on to produce some sculpture works, such as, the ‘Stone Head, Seraph’. His tempera paintings, inspired by Russian wood engravings and Japanese prints and woodcuts, displayed unique technical mastery, rich color palette, and structural simplicity. Most of his paintings revolved around a distinct craftsmanship, which combined a unique rhythmic sense with abstract expressiveness, something he discovered in his hometown, Northern Ireland. His floating figures and lively landscapes transport one back to the mid-century-Modernism. He was described as a ‘mural painter waiting for a wall’ by his close ally, John Hewitt. His dream came true when he was offered to paint a large mural in the Belfast City Hall, thus enabling him to create a niche for himself among other Irish artists