- Traces the life and work of the Irish artist, book illustrator and stained glass artist Harry Clarke (1889-1931) with major contributions from his biographer Nicola Gordon Bowe as well as many stained glass artists, poets and historians. The film takes the artist's work in stained glass, which was mainly religious an ethereal, and in book illustration, which was mainly dark and fantastical, as the basis for its title and tells a story of talent, struggle, success and the censorship of his final masterpiece 'the Geneva Window'. Harry Clarke brought his expertise in working in fine decorative detail in glass to his book illustrations, most notably in the tales of Hans Christian Andersen and Edgar Allan Poe where he is compared to Aubrey Beardsley and which are featured in the film and paralleled with German Expressionist cinema of the time.
- HARRY CLARKE - DARKNESS IN LIGHT Harry Clarke (1889 -1931), one of Ireland and Europe's greatest and most neglected artists, created a dazzling and often bizarre world in stained glass and book illustration (Hans Anderson, Poe, Goethe, Swinburne). 'Darkness in Light' compares and contrasts the heady mix of Clarke's religious work i.e. beautiful iconography, luscious colour schemes, incredible attention to detail with his black and white illustrations i.e. erotic, disturbing, sexually grotesque and strangely obscene. His tragic story is represented here as a fascinating collision of Church, State and Art in early 20th century Ireland and one man's battle for freedom of expression. This film examines the life of Clarke and the controversial nature of his work culminating in his exile in Switzerland due to declining health where he desperately fought the Irish government over his erotically charged 'Geneva Window'. The Irish government commissioned this window as a gift for the League of Nations which was based, ironically, in Switzerland. After 5 years in the making the window was declared an unsuitable representation of the new, Catholic Ireland abroad. Harry Clarke proudly illustrated the work of Joyce, O'Flaherty and many other problem writers whose work was censored at the time in this magnificent window and thus could join their ranks as a morally rejected artist. Visually spectacular and poetically told John J Doherty's film, Harry Clarke - Darkness in Light, is a fitting showcase of Clarke's unique and haunting vision.
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