Pauline Bewick
Irish Contemporary Painter, Tapestry Artist: Biography, Paintings.

Pauline Bewick RHA (b.1935)

A descendant of nineteenth century painter Thomas Bewick, Pauline was born Northumbria, England, in 1935. She was brought up on a small farm in County Kerry, where she began painting at the age of two. She then accompanied her family to Wales and England, living in a fantastic variety of homes including a houseboat, caravan, railway carriage, workman's hut and gate lodge. After schooling in England and Wales, she returned to Ireland to study drawing and fine art painting at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. From 1989 to 1991, she moved to Polynesia with her two daughters, and on her return to Ireland showed a collection of works called South Seas, some of which were also included in a book in 1996.

MEANING OF ART
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Immensely prolific as an artist, Pauline Bewick is mostly associated with watercolour painting, although she also does oil painting and sculpture, and tapestry art. She works in three large studios and her artwork is mainly about nature, especially that of the countryside of Kerry, Tuscany in Italy or the South Pacific. She is married to Patrick Melia and her two daughters Holly and Poppy are also artists. She lives in Kerry.

Her principal exhibitions include "Two to Fifty" (1985) - a retrospective featuring over 1,500 works, which was staged at the Guinness Hop Store to record attendances - and "The Yellow Man" (1996) - an exhibition held at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin. The latter was the first major showing of her Yellow Man series of paintings, a creative theme that now include sketches, watercolours, oils, tapestry, stained glass art, dance and theatre. The Yellow Man collection now incorporates more than 700 objects, and remains together in the artist's collection.

In 2006, Pauline Bewick generously donated over 200 artworks to the Irish state, including tapestries, wall hangings, watercolours and sketches. These artworks are on display at the Waterford Institute of Technology, and in the Killorglin Library, Co. Kerry. Her biography, "Pauline Bewick, Painting a Life" (Wolfhound Press 1985, 2001) was written by art historian Dr. James White. Pauline Bewick is a member of Aosdana.

Most Expensive Painting By Pauline Bewick

The auction record for a work by Pauline Bewick was set in 2004, when her subject painting, entitled Salmon On A Plate, was sold at James Adams, in Dublin, for €48,000.

More Information About Visual Arts in Ireland

• For details of other painters and sculptors from Kerry, see: Irish Artists: Paintings and Biographies.
• For more about artists like Pauline Bewick, see: Irish Art Guide.
• For more about contemporary art, see: Homepage.