Patrick Swift - 1927-1983: PS....of Course Irish art book

This book is the definitive study of the work of Patrick Swift. A man of extraordinary intellect, vivacity and wit, he was preoccupied with truth, art and literature. He found a comfortable niche among the literary set in Dublin, and was close friends with Patrick Kavanagh and Anthony Cronin. During his years in London, where he lived before finally settling in the Algarve, he associated with the poets and painters of Soho, including Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, George Barker and David Wright, but he shunned the limelight and never courted publicity. This richly illustrated book is a thoroughly researched biography of the artist, which includes selected essays by Swift himself, and a large anthology of writings by his contemporaries. "Gandon has published a beautifully produced book ... Delightfully illustrated and imaginatively conceived, the book has fifty colour plates and countless photographs of the artist’s family, friends, studio and paintings." — Marion McDonald, Sunday Business Post "No painter here since the Literary Revival has had a more central role in cultural life ... There can be few Irishmen of his epoch, whether poets or painters or novelists, who are of such biographical interest and who touched their age at so many key points." — Brian Fallon, Irish Times "He may well be one of the greatest of Irish painters. When the dust has settled and the critics have had their say, the paintings will speak for themselves ... His paintings hold you and address you in a language so intimate and disturbingly personal that even if you don’t know much about art you are aware you have been moved at a visceral level." — Marion McDonald, Sunday Business Post "The lost hope of Irish art ... belated recognition for Patrick Swift, a painter born out of his time.


Edges and corners not perfectly crisp,
Else as new. Now scarce

Can be posted for an extra €5 or collected from either Dundalk or Dublin City Centre