Louis le Brocquy
1916-2012
Louis le Brocquy was a well-known Irish painter. Some of his most famous works includes a series of paintings called "Portrait Heads." The series shows heads belonging to many literary figures as well as artists. He used these paintings to serve as a way of uncovering more about the person: discovering "the Beckettness of Beckett, the Baconness of Bacon." He studied the human figure, and many of his paintings were modeled after his second wife Anne Madden, as they met while she was recovering from surgeries to fix a spinal injury from her youth. As he had been self-taught, le Brocquy would often draw his inspiration from the work of other artists, and it is evident throughout the timeline of his works the kinds of artists he had been studying at different points in his life. Louis le Brocquy remains the first and only artist to have had his work included in the Permanent Irish Collection at the National Gallery of Ireland during his lifetime.
Just a portion of his large array of pieces is shown below.
Just a portion of his large array of pieces is shown below.
To see more examples of his work and to find further information on his life, visit le Brocquy's official website at www.anne-madden.com/LeBPages/lebrocquy.html