Kevin Geary
Born1952
Lincoln, England
Known forPortrait painting, Abstract painting and Poetry
SpousePatricia[1]
Parent
  • Gloria Pashley[2] (mother)

Kevin Geary (born 1952[3] Lincoln, England.[4]) is an English portrait and abstract artist and poet. Some of his works are in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, London,[5][6] the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco,[7] the Abbey Theatre, Dublin,[5][8] Wigmore Hall[2][5] and Arundells.[9]

Biography

Early life

Geary was born in 1952[10] in Lincoln, England.[4][11] His mother was the violinist Gloria Pashley.[2]

Three generations of Geary's family,[4] including his Irish[5] grandfather and great-grandfather,[11] were marine artists.[4]

In 1966, at the age 14, Geary won an award from the Royal Drawing Society of Great Britain.[5][11]

Career

Although good at art and playing the piano, Geary's ambition as a child was to be a political cartoonist.[9] Geary contacted Leslie Gilbert Illingworth a political cartoonist for the Daily Mail and Punch. Illingworth encouraged with the words "It's difficult, but genius will out."[11] His first job,[9] in 1971,[5] at the age of 19,[1] was as political cartoonist for the Financial Times. He became acquainted with Prime Minister Edward Heath after calling on his offices in the House of Commons and presenting the staff with one of his drawings of Heath which Heath later bought.[11] That cartoon is in the Arundells collection. Geary's work for the Financial Times came to an end due to artistic differences.[9]

After working for the Financial Times Geary worked for an advertising agency.[5]

Geary's first one-man show was opened in 1972[11] by the next prime minister, Harold Wilson[12] who lent his portrait to the show.[10] Wilson personally presented a Geary portrait of Golda Meir to her on a visit to Israel soon after the one-man show.[11]

In 1973 Geary had painting lessons with Carel Weight and also studied colour theory and anatomy.[5]

Geary's poetry writing started in the 1970s after he was encouraged by Stephen Spender who read one of his poems in London.[12]

In 1975 drawings by Geary of the Stations of the Cross were installed[13] in the Catholic Church of Christ the Eternal High Priest, Gidea Park.[5] The drawings now hang in the Merici Hall of St John Payne Catholic School in Chelmsford, Essex.[13]

In the mid 1970s Geary was in Ireland living in Waterford and Dublin[5] where he held one of his early one man shows at the Setanta Gallery.[8]

On 1 February 1982 a portrait by Geary of the pianist Ivor Newton was unveiled by Edward Heath at the Wigmore Hall.[2]

Geary lived in Paris in 1983/1984.[5]

In 1986 Geary moved to the United States of America, first living in Seattle, Washington, then Los Angeles, California (1987-1989), San Francisco, California (1989-1998), Hudson, New York (1998/1999) and Scottsdale, Arizona (1999).[5]

In 2003 Geary exhibited at the Cathedral Center for the Arts in Phoenix, Arizona.[14]

Geary moved to Sedona, Arizona in 2000,[5][12] and moved to the nearby Village of Oak Creek, Arizona in 2008. Some of his abstract work was exhibited in Jerome, Arizona in September of that year.[11]

Geary read from his book Paris and Other Poems at the Sedona Arts Center on 6 August 2010.[12]

Portraits

Geary's portraits include those of Vladimir Ashkenazy,[1][15] Count Basie,[1][11] Leonard Bernstein,[11] Jack Brymer,[1][6][11] Cyril Cusack,[8] Plácido Domingo,[11] Duke Ellington,[1] Ella Fitzgerald,[1][9][11] Dizzy Gillespie,[1] Lord Goodman,[15] Henry Kissinger,[1][9][11] Senator John McCain,[9] Golda Meir,[1][9][11][15] Princess Michael of Kent,[1][11] Ivor Newton,[2] Seán O'Casey,[8] Pope John Paul II,[1][9][11] John Williams, and Harold Wilson.[1]

Geary's portraits are made using graphite on Fabriano paper.[11]

Geary's portrait of London Symphony clarinettist Jack Brymer is in the primary collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.[11]

Membership

Geary is a member of the Contemporary Portrait Society.[5][4]

Bibliography

Geary, Kevin (2009). Paris And Other Poems. Geary Art Publishing. p. 116. ISBN 9780615329086.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Every Picture Tells a Story... Portraits by Kevin Geary". The Red Rock Review. Sedona, Arizona. June 2001. Archived from the original on 27 November 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Scott, Erica (1982). "Ivor Newton Portrait for Wigmore Hall". Music & Musicians. South Croydon, Surrey: Brevet Publishing Limited. 31: 4. ISSN 0027-4232. LCCN 59029972. OCLC 8656175. Retrieved 30 September 2021 – via Google Books. ...at the Wigmore Hall on 1 February when the Rt Hon. Edward Heath MP unveiled a portrait of the late Ivor Newton, presented by the artist, Kevin Geary, whose mother, the violinist Gloria Pashley, was often accompanied by Newton in Wigmore Hall.
  3. ↑ "Kevin Geary (b. 1952)". christies.com. Christie's. 2006. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Spalding, Frances; Collins, Judith (1990). Collins, Judith (ed.). Twentieth Century Painters and Sculptors. Suffolk, England: Antique Collectors' Club. p. 198. ISBN 9781851491063. Retrieved 30 September 2021 – via Google Books.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Kronthaler, Helmut (2009). Tegethoff, Wolf; Savoy, Bénédicte; Beyer, Andreas (eds.). "Geary, Kevin". Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon Online / Artists of the World Online. K. G. Saur. Retrieved 1 October 2021 – via Wikipedia Library.
  6. 1 2 "Kevin Geary - Person". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Archived from the original on 5 July 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  7. ↑ "Bicentennial Memento - Kevin Geary". art.famsf.org. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Kevin Geary". Whyte's. Archived from the original on 30 April 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Cole, Joseph (7 May 2012). "Darien Artist Finds Success From an Early Age". Darien Daily Voice. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  10. 1 2 "GEARY Kevin b. 1952 | Artist Biographies". artbiogs.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021. Painter, born in Lincoln, into a family containing three generations of marine artists. His first solo exhibition was opened by the Rt. Hon. Harold Wilson who also lent his portrait to that show.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Johnson, Susan (3 September 2008). "Jerome gallery displays English VOC artist". Red Rock News. Sedona, Arizona. p. 6A. Retrieved 30 September 2021 – via SmallTownPapers.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 "Irish poet Kevin Geary to perform in Sedona". The Scene. Sedona, Arizona: Sedona Red Rock News. 6 August 2010. p. 3. Retrieved 5 October 2021 – via SmallTownPapers.
  13. 1 2 "A Change of Stations". christtheeternalhighpriest.com. Christ The Eternal High Priest, Gidea Park. 3 April 2020. Archived from the original on 1 October 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2021. In 1975 Fr Kerrigan announced in the parish newsletter that original drawings of the Stations of the Cross by 'a talented young artist', by the name of Kevin Geary, had been installed in the church.
  14. ↑ Villani, John Carlos (17 July 2003). "First exhibit in Arizona". Arizona Republic. Phoenix, Arizona. p. 90. Retrieved 25 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. 1 2 3 Spalding, Frances; Collins, Judith (1990). Collins, Judith (ed.). Twentieth Century Painters and Sculptors. Suffolk, England: Antique Collectors' Club. p. 198. ISBN 9781851491063. Retrieved 30 September 2021 – via Google Books.
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