Society of Dublin Painters

Founded in 1920 by Irish artistic luminaries who included Jack Yeats, Paul Henry, his wife Grace Henry, Mary Swanzy, O'Rorke Dickey and Letitia Hamilton, the aim of the Society was to avoid the resentment of the establishment towards avant-garde painting and to give like-minded artists a window of their own. Without doubt, this was the start of modernism in Irish art. They rented rooms in the city centre on St. Stephen's Green where they showed in groups and individually. From its beginning until the 1940's the Society symbolised all that was forward-looking in Irish painting while its members champion no universal stylistic principals, but were unified in their distinctiveness and common interest in what was then considered the avant-garde. Within a few short years, they were joined by Manie Jellett, Evie Hone, Cecil Salkeld, Harry Clarke and Charles Lamb. In 1943 with the advent of the IELA the Society took second place as the vanguard of Irish painting and a fairly rapid decline followed. It is also referred to as the Dublin Painters Group but, by the early 1960's the Society had ceased to function.