Hazel : a life of Lady Lavery, 1880-1935 / [Sinéad McCoole].

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McCoole, Sinéad.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lavery, Hazel, Lady, 1880-1935.

Lavery, Hazel.

Lavery, John, 1856-1941.

Marriage.

Friends and associates.

London (England)--Social life and customs--20th century--Biography.

London (England).

Lavery, Hazel, Lady, 1880-1935--Friends and associates.

Painters' spouses--Great Britain--Biography.

Painters' spouses.

Great Britain.

Artists' models--Great Britain--Biography.

Artists' models.

Ireland--Foreign relations--Great Britain.

Ireland.

International relations.

Great Britain--Foreign relations--Ireland.

Americans--England--London--Biography.

Americans.

England--London.

Lavery, John, 1856-1941--Marriage.

Lavery, John.

Ireland--Foreign relations--1922-.

Irish--England--London--Biography.

Irish.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xii, 242 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Dublin, Ireland : Lilliput Press, 1996.

Summary:

This first biography of a pioneering Irish woman, wife of the great painter, sheds new light on the personal lives of some of Ireland's most revered patriots, including Michael Collins

Born into a wealthy Chicago-Irish family, Hazel Martyn studied art and made regular visits to France where she fell in love with the Belfast-born painter, John Lavery, twenty-four years her senior. After the death of her first husband (it was a marriage arranged by her mother), she married Lavery and they settled in London. There her popularity and beauty became legendary, their home frequented as a salon. Guests included Churchill, Asquith, Bernard Shaw, J.M. Barrie, Maugham, and Evelyn Waugh.

A growing interest in Irish politics often brought the Laverys to Dublin, where Hazel began to assist the national cause. Her London home played host to the historical Anglo-Irish Conference of 1921. Famed for her friendship and love for Michael Collins, she was credited by many with staging the signing of the Treaty. When Civil War broke out, the Laverys moved to Dublin, her husband to paint the historical events, she to continue her relationship with Collins. After his assassination she continued to fight for his cause despite threats and comparisons to Kitty O'Shea. Watching de Valera dismantle the Treaty and the diplomatic links she had worked so hard to establish, Hazel died at fifty five, believing her life utterly without purpose. She received her token of appreciation from the Irish government when they used her portrait on the currency, and it remains in use today as a ghostly watermark.

Although commemorated in over 400 paintings by her husband, Lady Lavery's life has remained quite secret untilthis biography. Drawing on interviews with Lavery's acquaintances and her daughter Alice, and making use for the first time of a unique cache of private correspondence and scrapbooks, Sinead McCoole has been able to reconstructed the life of one of modern Ireland's most fascinating women.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1874675554

1874675848

OCLC:

36552793