Mary Swanzy (1882–1978) was a pioneering figure in Irish art. She was educated in Paris where she exhibited at the Paris Salons as her work rapidly evolved through different styles: postimpressionism, fauvism, cubism, futurism, symbolism and surrealism—each transformed by her in a highly personal way. Following the devastation of World War I she went to Czechoslovakia as an aid worker; in 1923 she literally crossed the world on an epic voyage to Hawaii and Samoa, producing a body of work that is unique in an Irish context. Throughout the ‘20s and ‘30s she exhibited in the USA, Hawaii, UK, Belgium and Ireland, and regularly in Paris at both the Salon des Indépendants and the Beaux-Arts. This publication is the first complete monograph on the artist and aims to introduce the audience to Swanzy’s extraordinary achievements and reinstate her reputation as a modernist Irish master.

Visual artist(s): Mary Swanzy
Foreword by: Moling Ryan
Text by: Liz Cullinane