" head of a girl " by breon o'casey.
engraving on wove paper.
signed and numbered 8 of 10
the print is float mounted in a solid American walnut box frame.
paper size ... 375mm x 325mm
frame size ... 440mm x 385mm
breon o'cassey ( 1928 - 2011 ) born in london to irish parents, his father was the playwright sean o'casey his mother eileen, an actress.
in 1937 the familly moved to totnes in devon where he had a progressive education at the nearby dartington hall. lucien freud was in a higher class, the hepworth triplets came along later in a lower one. bernard leach founded a pottery there, the bauhaus designer naum slutzky taught metalwork, and there were paintings and sculpture by christopher wood, ben nicholson and henry moore. after his national service breon attended the anglo - french art school at st.johns wood, london, where john minton and jacob epstein were visiting lecturers. later he learnt to sculpt at st.martins school of art taught by anthony caro and elisabeth frink who modelled his head in plaster.
in the 1950's breon o'casey inspired by a documentary on alfred wallis, moved to st.ives in cornwall. refreshed by the like creative minds he met, breon set up his artist studio in a shed overlooking porthmeor beach. whilst establishing himself as an artist breon took part time work, first for sculptor dennis mitchell who he asssisted for two years, then along with terry frost and john wells, he assisted barbara hepworth. his experience with both sculptors proved to be a strong foundation for his own work. breons paintings moved from literal translations of the landscape to abstraction. in 1960 he began to exhibit with the penwith society of arts, showing his work alongside bernard leach, barbara hepworth, terry frost and john mitchell. in the 1970's he moved to nearby paul where by choice he worked from a windowless farm building so as not to allow distractions to influence his work. his skills which included painting, printmaking, sculpture, weaving and jewellry made him the doyen of artist craftsmen working in the area.
breon o'caseys work is held in the collections of the tate gallery , london; the philadelphia museum of art; the kunstsammlungen der vests coburg and the pforzheim museum; kettles yard , cambridge; dartington hall; leeds museum and art gallery and the arts councils of great britain, ireland and northern ireland.
