Artist Biographies

Grace Henry HRHA 1868-1953

Born in Scotland in 1868, the daughter of a church minister, her grandmother was a cousin to the poet, Lord Byron. Grace Henry studied at academies in Brussels and Paris, where she met Paul Henry and they married in London in 1903. She exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1904 and in 1910, she and Paul Henry first exhibited at the RHA. Two years later they made the extraordinary move to Achill Island which brought to the fore her talent as a colourist. They spent 7 years on Achill, during which time they held exhibitions in Belfast. In London, Grace exhibited at many leading galleries, including the Leicester Galleries, the London Salon, the Fine Art Society and occasionally at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. She went on to rent a studio on Merrion Row in Dublin and exhibited work at the Irish Exhibition in Paris in 1922. Paul and Grace were founder members of the Dublin Painters, exhibiting there and at the Stephens Green Gallery in the early 1920’s together with the Magee Gallery Belfast. In the mid 1920’s, she lived in Paris, and in 1930, was exhibiting at the Brussels Exhibition of Irish Art, still from her Merrion Row address. In 1934, she had a legal separation from Paul Henry, and through the 1930’s spent much time travelling abroad to Venice and other parts of Italy, to France and Spain, while continuing to exhibit in London and Dublin, including the Victor Waddington Gallery (1939, 1941 & 1943). Her last exhibition was at the Dawson Gallery Dublin in 1946. Altogether, she showed 30 works at the RHA and in 1939, was elected an honorary member of the RHA. She died in Dublin in 1953 and in 1991, a joint exhibition of the work of Paul and Grace Henry was exhibited at the Hugh Lane Gallery of Art in Dublin. Her work is included in major public collections throughout Ireland.
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