Norah McGuinness

Norah McGuinness was born in Derry. She studied at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin where her early work was much influenced by the decorative arts. She began her career as an illustrator and theatre designer, designing costumes for W.B.Yeats' play, Deirdre. From 1929-1932 she based herself in Paris, studying with Andre Lhote.

She lived for a number of years in London and continued her illustration work, producing designs for Vogue magazine and reguarly exhibiting in New York, and on a visit to the city she was impressed by the fact that artists such as Salvador Dali were producing window displays for the major department stores. On her return to Dublin in 1940 she began to design window displays for the Dublin store Brown Thomas. She also continued to design for the Theatre, working regularly for the Abbey. She took part in many exhibitions in Dublin and became one of the best known modernists in Ireland. In 1944 she became president of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art, a post which she held for almost 30 years. In 1950, together with Nano Reid, she was chosen to represent Ireland at the Venice Biennale. In her later years she focused her attention on the strand close to her home in Dublin, studying the formations of the water pools and the sea birds which frequent the area. These later works are marked by a deliberately confined palette of strong colours, the objects being defined be broad brushstrokes of black paint.