Catherine O'Brien

Catherine Amelia "Kitty" O'Brien (19 June 1881 – 18 July 1963) was an Irish stained glass artist, and a member and director of An Túr Gloine.

Early life and education

Catherine Amelia O'Brien was born in Durra House, Spancill Hill, County Clare on 19 June 1881. She was one of five children of Pierce O'Brien, a gentleman landowner, and Sophia Angel St John O'Brien. Her first cousin was woodcarver Sophia St John Whitty. O'Brien attended the Mercy Convent in Ennis. Despite being born into a middle-class country Anglo-Irish Protestant family, family funds later running low required her to move to Dublin to acquire training for a career. She went on to win a scholarship to the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, first recorded attending there in 1901. Whilst there she studied under William Orpen, and Alfred E. Child who taught her the art of stained glass.

Artistic work Amongst her first commissions was the St Ita window for St Brendan's cathedral in Loughrea in 1904, which was designed by Sarah Purser. O'Brien joined An Túr Gloine in 1903, alongside Michael Healy as the first two artists recruited. She began her career there by designing Angel of the Annunciation window in the Enniskillen convent chapel. For a window in the Wilson private chapel Coolcarrigan, Naas, County Kildare in 1912, O'Brien incorporated Celtic design, some drawing on the Book of Durrow. In 1914, she toured the cathedrals of Paris, Rouen, and Chartres with Purser and Wilhelmina Geddes. Her 1923 design of the centenary memorial window in St Andrew's church, Lucan, represented the parable of the Good Shepherd. When in 1925 An Túr Gloine became a cooperative society, O'Brien became a shareholder along with Ethel Rhind, Evie Hone, and Michael Healy. The window of St Catherine of Siena for the Sacred Heart convent chapel, Newton, Massachusetts dates from 1927. O'Brien's 1931 St Patrick window, for the De La Salle school, East Coast Rd, Singapore, commissioned by architect Denis Santry, and is the only extant stained-glass work by an Irish artist in that country. some early work including windows that showed the legacy of Christopher Whall, where she utilised imagery reministent of the Irish countryside such as quarries. Her saintly figures would often be canopied by delicate designs of branches and leaves. She seemed most comfortable working with straightforward human figures, sometimes struggling to capture gesture and movement. In the early 1930s, she evolved to prefer more bright tones over her initial muted palette, intense oranges, reds, blues, and greens. Her art often evokes folk art in its colour and motif choices.

She generally stuck to smaller scale windows that allowed for more intimate designs over large multi-light windows, but there were exceptions, such as a fine five-light, Crossing the Bar for Kinsale Church of Ireland. Her works tended to keep a simple and modest design and execution, fitting perfectly into country churches. Moving into the 1950s, her work is characterised by simpler designs, sometimes resembling children's book illustration.

It was unusual for artist's in An Túr Gloine to sign their work, but O'Brien regularly left her signature of 'K.O'B' or 'K.O'Brien', sometimes accompanied by a tiny tower.