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James Brohan
Born in Dublin in 1952 he
studied painting and anatomy
under the direction of Yann
Goulet, RHA from 1985-86.
His influence on James was
to “Look and observe”, and he
told Brohan “If you can’t see
it you can’t paint it” thus an
artist should be able to look
and capture in his minds eye
the subject, movement,
colour, tone and feeling of
what he is about to paint.
From 1986-1987 Brohan
studied under Liam Treacy,
who taught Brohan how to use
paint in a colourful and loose
impressionistic way. From
these valuable teachers
Brohan’s style has thus
evolved over the years to be
more colourful using the paint
thickly, in impasto. Though his
subject matter has remained
similar, he still gets inspiration
to “paint any subject, whether
it be still life, landscape,
street scenes, horse fairs or
market scenes, when I see
it”. He continued his studies at
the Dun Laoghaire College of
Art and Design and later
attended the National College
of Art and Design, studying
under Des Carrick, RHA. His
inspiration comes directly
from Ireland where “you can
capture everything an artist
would want to paint, summer
light, winter gloom, harbours,
beach scenes and markets” .
Influenced by the work of the
Irish impressionists such as
Roderic O’Connor, William
Orpen, Walter Osborne, Frank
McKelvy, James Humbert
Craig, Sir John Lavery and
Maurice Mac Gonigal, he
admires their loose handling
of paint.
His paintings are about colour
rather than tone, and the
essence of capturing the
subtle nuances of light. He
respects Osborne’s treatment
of light in the painting “In the
Park”, NGI saying “he
captures the light in magical
way”, and admires John
Butler Yeats’ painting of his
daughter Lily, also in the NGI
for his use of colour
saying “the white dress she is
wearing has so many colours
in it and yet, it still looks
white”. Due to increasing
modernisation and an ever-
changing Ireland his aim as
an artist is clear, to record the
times he lives in, capturing all
that he can in a single
stroke. “A lot of what we have
today will be gone, such as
men wearing caps and small
fishing boats in our harbours”.
His subject matter varies
between landscapes and
portraiture, and he does paint
reoccurring themes once the
inspiration to paint them is
still prevalent, but the
occasion to paint something
new excites him due to the
offer of a challenge and a new
experience. In his figurative
scenes he aims to capture a
moment, a movement, but
most of all an emotion so that
the viewer can His works in
either watercolour or oils
worked up from sketches.
Like many impressionist
painters he also uses
photography but only, as he
states in his own words, as a “
secondary back up”. If
working from photograph,
Brohan feels it is important to
paint from the memory and
feeling one had whilst looking
at the initial subject. The
context of his work is both
cultural and historical – in that
he is documenting a way of
Irish life that is ephemeral,
yet so too is he celebrating
Irish culture, life and heritage.
His paintings and style are
timeless documents reflecting
a way of life, in a style that
has its roots firmly placed in
Irish impressionism.
Empathise or react to the
subject. He is particularly fond
of harbour scenes due to the
opportunity “to put the
excitement of movement,
light and reflection you get in
the water” onto canvas |
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