Elizabeth Taggart

Born in Donaghadee, Co. Down, Elizabeth Taggart studied painting at the Belfast College of Art in the early 1960s under John Luke and Romeo Toogood, among others. In the mid 1960s, she moved to England where she completed further studies at Leicester College of Art before establishing her first studio in London in 1968. From London, she exhibited regularly at the RHA, the RA and the Irish Exhibitions of Living Art. In 1995, she returned to live in Co. Down where she has been living and working ever since.
Elizabeth's work is very much in the tradition of Northern figurists like Dan O'Neill and Gerard Dillon. It is beautifully refined in its execution, the painstaking care of the small brushstrokes echoed in the tenderness of the subject matter. Closer inspection reveals hints of more sinister subtexts in the stillettoed chair legs, masked pierrot figures and averted eyes of the subjects. The eyes that meet those of the viewer convey a sort of melancholy at odds with the flamboyant costumes and theatrical settings.

Born: Donaghadee, Co. Down, 1943
Educated: Belfast College of Art, Leicester College of Art
Joint & Group Exhibitions
Royal Academy, London
2001/'00/'1999/'98/'97/'94/'93/'91/'89/'88/'87/'86/'83-''81
Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
2007/'06/'05/04/'02/1999/'98/'97
Royal Ulster Academy, Belfast
2002/'01/1999/'98/'97/'96/'94/'80
Irish Exhibition of Living Art, Dublin 1980
The Molesworth Gallery, Dublin
2004/'03/'02
Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast
2003/'02/'01/'00/1999-'89/1985-'69
Francis Kyle Gallery, London
1994/ '93/'92/'91/'90/'89/'87/'86/'85/'84/'83/'82/'81

Solo Exhibitions
2005 The Molesworth Gallery, Dublin
2004 Alexander Clayton Gallery, Stratford upon Avon
1998 Rara Avis Gallery, Greyabbey
1990 Frances Kyle Gallery, London
1985 Eton Contemporary Art Gallery, Eton
1982 Heal's Gallery, London
1980 Baronne Street Gallery, New Orleans

Awards
2006 De Veres RHA Painting Prize