Evie Hone: acclaimed Irish Stained glass artist.

Evie Hone: lived and had a studio in Marlay Park courtyard. The National Gallery of Ireland is hosting an exhibition titled Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone: The Art of Friendship from April to August 2025, showcasing their works and exploring their shared experiences [A](https://www.nationalgallery.ie/art-and-artists/exhibitions/mainie-jellett-and-evie-hone-art-friendship? 

Hone, Eva Sydney (‘Evie’) (1894–1955), painter and stained-glass artist, was born 22 April 1894 at Roebuck Grove, Clonskeagh, Co. Dublin, youngest among four daughters of Joseph Hone, prominent maltster and director of the Bank of Ireland, and Eva Hone (née Robinson), who died two days after Evie's birth. Evie came from a family with a long tradition of painting, being related to the eighteenth-century portrait-painter Nathaniel Hone. At the age of 12 she became a victim of poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis), and although she was eventually to regain a certain degree of mobility, she was left a semi-invalid for the rest of her life. 

Evie Hone and Mainie Jellett shared a remarkable friendship that significantly influenced Irish modern art. They first met in London in 1917 while studying at the Westminster School of Art, but it was their time in Paris during the 1920s that truly cemented their bond. Both artists studied under the influential Cubist Albert Gleizes, whose teachings on abstraction and modernism deeply shaped their artistic journeys 

Their friendship was rooted in mutual respect and a shared passion for pushing the boundaries of traditional art. While Jellett became a champion of modernist painting in Ireland, Hone later focused on stained glass, becoming one of the country's most celebrated artists. Despite their diverging artistic paths, their connection remained strong, and they are often celebrated together for their pioneering contributions to Irish art.

The deeply spiritual Hone found herself drawn towards a religious vocation, and in 1925 joined a community of anglican nuns at Truro, Cornwall. She stayed there for nearly a year, but eventually decided she had no vocation, writing to Jellett that ‘I feel quite at peace now about it and as certain as one can be of anything’ (Arnold, 127). She returned to Dublin to live with her sister at Lucan and continued to travel each year to the south of France with Jellett, resuming her contact with Gleize, who was instrumental in teaching her about the value of shape and colour in the stimulation of vision. Her cubist-derived abstraction was seen in gouaches such as ‘Seated woman’ (1928), and she exhibited in London and Paris as well as Dublin.

Hone’s religious convictions had a deep impact on her, and she began to turn her attention to stained glass, working under A. E. Child of An Túr Gloine as well as studying in London with Wilhelmina Geddes, and the Dutch stained-glass artist Roland Holst. She was a regular exhibitor at the RHA (1931–7) and was also a founder member of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art. Her close friend Michael Healy was also a huge influence on her, and in 1933 she joined An Túr Gloine, where she was to remain for ten years. One of her first pieces was ‘The annunciation’, in Taney church, Dundrum, Co. Dublin. In 1937 she converted to catholicism and was received into the church by John Charles McQuaid . Two years later Hone's ‘My four green fields’, commissioned by the Irish government, was exhibited at the New York World Fair and won first prize for a work in stained glass; it was later moved to the CIÉ offices in O'Connell St., Dublin. ‘St Brigid’ in Loughrea cathedral, Co. Galway, followed (1942), and she also executed ‘The beatitude’ and ‘The nativity’ for the Jesuit college in Tullabeg, Co. Offaly. 

She then commenced work on perhaps her best-known piece, the east window in Eton College chapel, Windsor, completed in 1952, which brought her international fame. It covered an area of 900 square feet (83.6 sq. m) and comprised over 40,000 pieces of glass; there was no studio large enough in Ireland in which to view it, and she had insisted on executing a number of the sections several times.

Connection to Marlay Park Courtyard.

Evie Hone lived and worked in Marlay Park, specifically in the Dower House located within the park's courtyard. This became her home and studio, where she created many of her renowned stained glass works. Her connection to Marlay Park is celebrated as an integral part of her artistic legacy. As she was living in the Dower House in the courtyard of Marlay, Evie was able to set up her own studio in Marlay House. Her work remains a cornerstone of Irish modern art. Evie Hone died in March 1955 on her way to mass. so this talk marks the 70th anniversary of her passing and takes place in the room next door to her studio in Marlay House.

If you're interested, there are events and talks held at Marlay House that delve into her life and contributions to Irish art.

his talk marks the 70th anniversary of her passing and takes place in the room next door to her studio in Marlay House.

[A](https://www.dlrcoco.ie/dlr-events/event/spring-talks-evie-hone-stained-glass-artist-marlay-spring-into-heritage-2025? 

Evie Hone Stained Glass Artist Of Marlay

A talk by Peadar Curran, local historian. 30 April at 7pm