Stella Steyn, Chrysanthemums

Stella Steyn (1907-1987) is an interesting figure in the Irish art world. She studied at the Metropolitan Art School (now the National College of Art and Design), and subsequently, like many Irish modernists, in Paris. In the early 1930s she spent one year as a student in the Bauhaus where she counted Klee and Kandisnky amongst her teachers. In Paris she was part of the circle of Samuel Beckett and James Joyce, who commissioned her to illustrate the first (serialised) edition of Finnegans Wake. Her work was exhibited in the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (1927-30), Royal Academy, London (1952-59), as well as individual works in multiple galleries around the world. Read more about her in the Dictionary of Irish Biography or in ArtUK in a fascinating article by Alicia Foster.

Watercolour on paper. Unframed size: 34 x 50cm. Framed size 67 x 51.2cm. Studio stamp lower left.