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Who was Norah McGuinness?

Part of Art and DesignDrawing

Norah McGuinness was born in Londonderry in 1901 and she died in County Dublin in 1980.

Norah took life drawing classes at Derry Technical College and she was inspired by Harry Clarke (who was an illustrator) to take up illustration.

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Hanrahan's Vision by Norah McGuinness© The Estate of Norah McGuinness, licensed in the UK by ACS, London 2024
Hanrahan's Vision (Illustrations for The Stories of Red Hanrahan) by Norah McGuinness

What is an illustrator?

An illustrator draws or creates pictures for magazines, books and advertisements.

As well as oil and watercolour painting, Norah was an illustrator of books.

WB Yeats, a famous Irish poet and dramatist, used Norah's illustrations in many of his books, including his Stories of Red Hanrahan.

Hanrahan's Vision by Norah McGuinness© The Estate of Norah McGuinness, licensed in the UK by ACS, London 2024
Hanrahan's Vision (Illustrations for The Stories of Red Hanrahan) by Norah McGuinness
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Vogue magazine

Fashion

Norah was an illustrator for fashion magazines such as Vogue.

She designed costumes and sets for theatre productions in Dublin.

She also worked in New York and Dublin designing shop window displays.

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Drawing tips

Maybe you could be an illustrator, get some drawing tips from Oliver Jeffers

What is drawing?
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Norah was influenced by the art style of Cubism. If you look closely at her paintings, you can see these can be broken up into simple shapes.
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This painting by the artist Pablo Picasso is an example of a portrait made in the cubist style.

What is Cubism?
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