Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone: The Art of Friendship

I contributed research to the National Gallery of Ireland’s major 2025 spring exhibition that is dedicated to the pioneering Irish modernists Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone, and brings together 90 of their works of art. It explores their friendship and shared experiences while studying in Paris during the early 1920s, and traces their careers back to Ireland. The exhibition highlights the early convergences and later divergences in their styles as they developed distinct artistic voices. Featuring paintings, stained glass, and preparatory drawings, it reveals how both women were trailblazers in Irish art although remaining connected to conventional themes such as religion and landscape.” This exhibition is kindly supported by The Klesch Collection, Lead Sponsor; Friends of the National Gallery of Ireland, and the Art of Friendship Giving Circle. The Gallery would like to thank the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media for their ongoing support.

I contributed research to this exhibition and authored an essay for the accompanying catalogue. The exhibition and book have been widely praised aside in reviews both in print and online. Major reviews in the national press have appeared in The Irish Times, Irish Independent, Irish Examiner, Visual Arts Ireland, The Gloss, History Ireland, Irish Arts Review, The Tablet, Church Times – the principal international; reviews so far include:

Louis Jebb, “Dublin celebrates three pioneering women who changed the face of 20th-century art in Ireland” The Art Newspaper, 3 January 2025
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/01/03/mainie-jellett-evie-hone-sarah-purser-exhibitions-dublin-modern-art-ireland

Joanna Moorhead, “‘Freak pictures’: Ireland’s art revolutionaries who were treated so badly one fled to a nunnery” The Guardian, 10 April 2025
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/apr/10/freak-pictures-irelands-art-revolutionaries-who-were-treated-so-badly-one-fled-to-a-nunnery

Philippa Conlon, “Meet two heroines of Irish modernism, “ Apollo, 30 April 2025
https://apollo-magazine.com/mainie-jellett-evie-hone-national-gallery-of-ireland-exhibition-review/

Celia Delahunt, “Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone: The Art of Friendship,” Studio International, 28 April 2025, https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/mainie-jellett-evie-hone-art-of-friendship-review-national-gallery-ireland-dublin

Lea Carroll, “They Were Girls Together: Jellett and Hone at the National Gallery,” University Times, 29 April 2025
https://universitytimes.ie/2025/04/they-were-girls-together-jellett-and-hone-at-the-national-gallery/

Melanie McDonagh, “The two young women who blazed a trail for modernism in Ireland,” The Spectator, 1 May 2025
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-two-young-women-who-blazed-a-trail-for-modernism-in-ireland/

RTE, Jess Fahy on “Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone: The Art of Friendship,” 1 May 2025
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22509708/