John Luke
The Irish landscape artist and figurative painter John Luke was born in Belfast and worked in a shipyard and Flax Mill before taking night classes at the Belfast School of Art. After winning a competition to exhibit at the RDS, Luke was encouraged to go to Slade School in London to study fine arts. While studying in London, he exhibited at Redfern and Leger galleries, before returning to Belfast in the early 1930s.
After returning to Ireland, he had many exhibitions at galleries such as Royal Hibernia Academy, as well as an extensive exhibition of 85 artworks at Belfast Museum and Art Gallery in 1938. After a fallow period during which he moved to Armagh to escape the blitz in Belfast, Luke went on to paint notable murals at Masonic Hall, Belfast, and for the Festival of Britain, before lecturing at Belfast College of Art.
John Luke spent his final years - after the death of his mother - in relative poverty in a flat in Duncairn Gardens, Belfast, and died in the Mater Hospital in 1975. The following year, the Arts Councils of Ireland mounted an extensive exhibition of his work at the Ulster Museum and the Douglas Hyde Gallery in Dublin. His artworks appear in several public and private collections, including: Ulster Museum, Belfast; County Museum, Armagh; Queen's University Belfast; and many more.
After returning to Ireland, he had many exhibitions at galleries such as Royal Hibernia Academy, as well as an extensive exhibition of 85 artworks at Belfast Museum and Art Gallery in 1938. After a fallow period during which he moved to Armagh to escape the blitz in Belfast, Luke went on to paint notable murals at Masonic Hall, Belfast, and for the Festival of Britain, before lecturing at Belfast College of Art.
John Luke spent his final years - after the death of his mother - in relative poverty in a flat in Duncairn Gardens, Belfast, and died in the Mater Hospital in 1975. The following year, the Arts Councils of Ireland mounted an extensive exhibition of his work at the Ulster Museum and the Douglas Hyde Gallery in Dublin. His artworks appear in several public and private collections, including: Ulster Museum, Belfast; County Museum, Armagh; Queen's University Belfast; and many more.