Evie Hone

Evie Hone
Portrait of Evie Hone by Hilda van Stockum (detail)
Born	Eva Sydney Hone 22 April 1894 Roebuck Grove, County Dublin, Ireland
Died	13 March 1955 Rathfarnham, County Dublin
Nationality	Irish
Education	Byam Shaw School of Art Central School of Arts and Crafts Westminster School of Art André Lhote Albert Gleizes[1]
Known for	stained glass

Site of Rathfarnham workshop, Marley Park courtyard

Eva Sydney Hone RHA (22 April 1894 – 13 March 1955), usually known as Evie, was an Irish painter and stained glass artist.^[1]

Hone was born at Roebuck Grove, County Dublin, on 22 April 1894. She was the youngest daughter of Joseph Hone, of the Hone family, and Eva Eleanor, née Robinson, daughter of Sir Henry Robinson and granddaughter of the 10th Viscount Valentia.^{[2] [1]} She was related to Nathaniel Hone and Nathaniel Hone the Younger. Her most important works are probably the East Window for the Chapel at Eton College, Windsor (1949–1952) and My Four Green Fields, now located in Government Buildings. They were commissioned for the Irish Government's Pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair. They graced CIÉ's Head Office in O'Connell Street from 1960 to about 1983. From December 2005 to June 2006, an exhibition of her work was on display at the National Gallery of Ireland.

Hone studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London and then under Bernard Meninsky at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. She met Mainie Jellett when both were studying under Walter Sickert at the Westminster Technical Institute.^[3] She worked under André Lhote and Albert Gleizes in Paris before returning to become influential in the modern movement in Ireland and become one of the founders of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art. She is considered an early pioneer of Cubism but in the 1930s turned to stained glass,^[4] which she studied with Wilhelmina Geddes.

Rose window, Ardara

Evie Hone was extremely devout; she spent time in an Anglican Convent in 1925 and converted to Catholicism in 1937. This may have influenced her decision to begin working in stained glass. Initially she worked as a member of the An Túr Gloine stained glass co-operative before setting up a studio of her own in Rathfarnham.

Work in collections or on display

Evie Hone stained glass from 1955 in St. John the Baptist, Blackrock

East window, Eton College Chapel

• All Hallows College College Chapel south stained glass window.
• The Crawford Art Gallery, Cork
• The East Window - Eton College Chapel, Windsor.^[5]
• My Four Green Fields - Government Buildings, Dublin.^[6]
• Frontage including arms of provinces - Dublin Bus, O'Connell Street^[7]
• Lanercost Priory, Cumbria ^[8]
• Manresa House, Dublin^[9]
• Trinity College Dublin
• East Window, St Mary's Downe, Bromley, Kent
• The Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery
• Highlanes Gallery Drogheda, Co. Louth
• Catholic Church in Tullabeg, Co. Offaly: a series of five windows, 1946.
• Church of the Immaculate Conception, Kingscourt, Co. Cavan. Four windows, 1947-8.
• St. Peter and Paul’s Church Kiltullagh, Athenry, Co Galway, Stations of the Cross.
• St Michael's, Highgate, London. Stained glass window of The Last Supper dating from 1954.
• Shirley Chapel at Ettington Park, Warwickshire.^[10]
• St. John the Baptist, Blackrock, Dublin. Stained glass windows by Evie Hone in 1955.
• SS Michael and John's Roman Catholic Church, Cloughjordan, County Tipperary. Two small windows to the side of the altar.^[11]
• Holy Family RC Church, Ardara, Co Donegal. Rose window.
• Mount Carmel Hospital Churchtown Dublin reception area

References

Further reading

• Bruce Arnold (1977), Irish Art, a Concise History (2nd Ed.), London: Thames and Hudson, ISBN 0-500-20148-X
• Nicola Gordon Bowe (2002), Hone, Evie in Brian Lalor (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Ireland. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan. ISBN 0-7171-3000-2