John Luke 1906-1975

Belfast artist John Luke studied at the Belfast School of Art and won a scholarship which enabled him to study at the Slade School of Art in London under Henry Tonks, where he shared a studio with F. E. McWilliam. Exhibiting at galleries in London, he continued his studies at night at the Westminster School of Art before returning to Belfast in 1931. During the 1930s Luke exhibited with the short lived group Northern Ireland Guild of Artists, and began exhibiting at the RHA. He also visited Achill where he met Paul Henry, and represented Northern Ireland in New York at the Exhibition of the Art of Seventy-Nine Countries. Although he stopped painting during World War II and taught for a time in Co. Armagh, the 1940’s were significant for Luke’s artistic career with a major solo show at Belfast Museum and Art Gallery and a retrospective held by CEMA.