| Collection Description | Beatrice Esther Orpen was born in Carrickmines in Dublin, 1913. She was the niece to Sir William Orpen though they
had never met. Orpen studied art in the Metropolitan School of Fine Art, The Royal Hibernian Academy and Slade
School of Fine Art. She excelled in design and decorative art and proceeded to study in in the School of Typography
and trained in both textile and commercial design in the London County Council Central School of Arts and Crafts. She
went on to create designs for a wide range of products such as posters, book jackets, tea towels and cards. Orpen
created fine art works in goache and watercolour where she focused on landscapes. She had her first solo show in the
Country Shop, St Stephen's Green, Dublin in 1939. Orpen exhibitied in the RHA annual show every year from 1934 to
1980 as well as the Watercolour Society each year from 1936 to 1980. Her prolific career also extended to showing in
the Irish Exhibition of Living Art and the Exhibition of Modern Irish Art. She lived with her husband Chalmers Edward
FitzJohn (‘Terry’) Trench in Drogheda and then Slane in Co. Meath where she taught art in a number of schools. They
both founded the Drogheda Municipal. She was a co-founder for the Drogheda ICA and was president for a time.
Retrospective exhibitions of her work were held at the Gorry gallery, Dublin (1981), and the Droichead arts centre,
Drogheda (1995). She passed away in 1980 [NGI]. |
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