Description

Mayo Books Ireland is proud to present Achill Remembers Marie Howet (1897-1984) Acclaimed Belgian Impressionist Painter by Mary J Murphy.

Four years after writing her monumental, trailblazing book, ACHILL PAINTERS, writer Mary J. Murphy returns with this lovingly crafted monograph, to mark the 40th anniversary of the death of Belgian Impressionist Marie Howet, so closely associated with the island for half a century. It swoops and swerves between the people and places that were dearest to the artist’s heart on Achill since her very first visit on August 4th 1929, and in Belgium too, unearthing along the way many original island paintings. Marie, born in Libramont, with a ‘heart-haven’ in Rochehaut, bestowed part of her soul to Achill from the moment she first set foot at Eva O’Flaherty’s Dooagh door on that August day, and established there a unique, lifelong island friendship with the Burke family.

Her glorious 1934 publication, A LA SOURCE D’ARA (with a preface by Stephen Gwynn), contains many majestic Achill landscapes, and this monograph includes quotes and memories from family and friends who knew her best. Neglected, inexplicably, for decades, it is now time to celebrate one of Achill’s most famous adopted daughters, a painter who can hold her head high with Paul Henry or Robert Henri any day.

Known to Rodin, Magritte, Matisse, Paul Signac and Max Luce on the continent, Marie’s astonishing milieu back in the day included Sean O’Sullivan (who painted her portrait), George Russell (ditto), Padraic Colum, Hilda Roberts, Stella Steyn, Dorothy Blackham, Mabel Alleyne, Grace Henry, Harriet Kirkwood, Emily Weddall, George Bernard Shaw, Mainie Jellett, Fr. Jack Hanlon, Derek Hill, George Furlong, Louis le Brocquy, Lilian Davidson, Dairine Vanston, Stella Frost, Maude Bell, James White and Nano Reid. Nano’s work, in particular, was influenced profoundly by Howet, and Reid, in turn, was much admired by long-time Achill resident, painter Camille Souter (1929-2023).