Harry Clarke, R.H.A. (1889-1931)

Harry Clarke, a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement, studied stained glass at Dublin School of Art before moving to London to seek employment as a book illustrator. The current drawing was made for one of his earliest completed commissions, a series of monotone illustrations for Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination, a commission which made his reputation as a book illustrator. Clarke's work can be compared to that of Aubrey Beardsley, Kay Nielsen, and Edmund Dulac.