Breon O’Casey

Breon O’Casey (1928-2011)

was a versatile artist, working as a painter, sculptor, printmaker, weaver and jeweller. He was born in London, son of the Irish playwright, Sean O’Casey. In 1937 the family left London for Totnes in Devon and O’Casey was educated at nearby Dartington Hall. After National Service he studied art at the Anglo-French Art Centre in St John’s Wood, London. O’Casey had his first solo show in 1954 at Somerville College, Oxford, and later in the 1950s he moved to St Ives having been attracted to the town after watching a TV programme about Alfred Wallis and other artists working in Cornwall. He found a studio facing out over Porthmeor beach and was soon involved with the Penwith Society of Artists, exhibiting there for the first time in 1959. Many group and solo shows followed including at The Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol (1960, 1971), Marjorie Parr Gallery, London (1968, 1969, 1973, 1975), Park Square Gallery, Leeds (1968), Brown Thomas Gallery, Dublin (1969), Oxford Gallery (1970, 1979, 1996), British Crafts Centre, London (1974),Taylor Galleries, Dublin (1986, 1988, 1993), Oriel, Cardiff (1995), Tate Gallery, St Ives (with Bernard Leach) (1999), Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (2000), Scolar Fine Art, London (2000), New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, Surrey (2001), Berkeley Square Gallery, London (2003), Mullan Gallery, Belfast (2004, 2006), Lemon Street Gallery (2006, 2009). Breon O’Casey’s work is held in many public collections at home and abroad including Arts Council of Great Britain, Arts Council of Ireland, Crafts Council, London, Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, Leeds Museum and Art Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery, Tate Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin, and Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Current Works

Breon O’Casey – 4 White Dots, 1985

Breon O’Casey – Untitled Relief, 1961

Breon O’Casey – Christmas Card Three