HvS ART | Evie Hone in 2014 RHA Diary

Portrait of Evie Hone by HvS. (c) by HvS
 Estate. Permissions: teppermarlin@aol.com.

Evie Hone and Studio. (c) by HvS Estate.
Permissions: teppermarlin@aol.com.

The Royal Hibernian Academy of Art publishes a diary every year. A few years ago they included a portrait of Evie Hone in her studio by Hilda van Stockum (see photo at right). This portrait was reviewed at length by Mary Bourke in the Summer 1997 issue of Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, published by the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus. She noted all the items included in HvS's portrait.

The 2014 calendar features her full portrait (see photo at left).

The importance of both portraits is very high because of the dual fame of the two artists as among the 20 greatest Irish artists of the 20th century, and their known close friendship, dating back to 1931. They went to Lourdes together to pray for Hone's health.

HvS studied at the Royal Hibernian Academy after having learned the basic skills at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam, and is claimed as an Irish artist. HvS was born in Rotterdam of Dutch-speaking parents, but her grandmother was Irish-born. The Irish artistic community eagerly claimed HvS whereas the Dutch, disoriented by World War II, did not.

HvS told her children that she once told Evie Hone how good one of her earliest stained glass works was, and Hone told her later than this encouragement helped her decide the path of her career. Hone's work is now in such notable places as the Eton College Chapel and the Washington Cathedral.

A pencil drawing of Evie Hone by Hilda van Stockum was put up for auction by Whyte's with a predicted recommended price of 800-1,200 euros and a starting bid of 600 euros.