Evie Hone

Eva Sydney Hone RHA (22 April 1894 – 13 March 1955), usually known as Evie, was an Irish painter and stained glass artist. She is considered to be an early pioneer of cubism, although her best known works are stained glass. Her most notable pieces are the East Window in the Chapel at Eton College, which depicts the Crucifixion, and My Four Green Fields, which is now in the Government Buildings in Dublin. Early life Eva Sydney Hone, known as Evie, was born at Roebuck Grove, County Dublin, on 22 April 1894. She was the youngest daughter of Joseph Hone, of the Hone family, and Eva Eleanor, née Robinson, daughter of Sir Henry Robinson and granddaughter of the 10th Viscount Valentia. Her mother died two days after her birth. She was related to artists Nathaniel Hone and Nathaniel Hone the Younger. Shortly before her twelfth birthday she suffered from polio (infant paralysis), suffering a fall whilst helping to decorate the church in Taney for Easter. Her resulting ill health led to her seeking treatment in Harley Street. She was educated by a governess, continuing her education in Switzerland, and went on tours to Spain and Italy before moving to London in 1913. Her three sisters all married British army officers, and all were widowed in the First World War. Training Hone studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London and then under Bernard Meninsky at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. She met Mainie Jellett when both were studying under Walter Sickert at the Westminster Technical Institute. She worked under André Lhote and Albert Gleizes in Paris before returning to become influential in the modern movement in Ireland and become one of the founders of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art. She is considered an early pioneer of Cubism but in the 1930s turned to stained glass, which she studied with Wilhelmina Geddes.