Background
Micheál de Búrca was born Michael Bourke in 1913 in Tipperary.
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Micheal Burca
Edit ProfileEducation
Michael began his education at Saint Gerald"s School in Castlebar, then studied at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art (forerunner to the National College of Art and Design).
Career
He primarily painted landscapes and seascapes using oil paints on board and watercolours on board respectively. His work "Summer Evening, Achill" has been used in several books and collections to date. The Bourkes" business started in 1881 and included harnesses, saddlery, bicycles, motorcars, a cinema and a power generation station which provided Castlebar with electricity.
After finishing his studies Michael was appointed as an Art Inspector within the Department of lieutenant was at this time that he visited schools and drew up the national art syllabus for secondary schools.
In 1941 following the unexpected sudden death of George Atkinson, then Director of the National College of Art, Michael was appointed to the position of Acting Director. Shortly thereafter in 1942 Michael was appointed Director.
lieutenant was because of this position that he changed his name to the Irish form (Micheál de Búrca) because the Director was required to be a Gaeilgeoir (an Irish language enthusiast). Though not a difficulty because he was already fluent in Irish it does make researching his paintings slightly more complex because he used the signature Michael Bourke initially, before switching to Micheál de Búrca.
He continued to paint and exhibit as the Director.
During World World War II he re-introduced stained glass, screen printing, weaving and metal work to the college"s cirriculum. To facilitate this expansion he encouraged Patrick McElroy, a blacksmith and Royal Air Force veteran with CIÉ to lecture on enamelling and fine art metalwork. Around the same time he organised a travelling art exhibition to take art by rail to technical schools around the country.
The aim of which was "to awaken interest in art and encourage art teaching".
About 60 works were involved in this exhibition, all donated by artists and owners for the length of the exhibition. The exhibition tour included works by: Sir John Lavery, Walter Osborne, Nathaniel Hone, Patrick Tuohy, Maurice MacGonigal, Seán O"Sullivan, Jack B Yeats, John Keating, Laetitia Hamilton, JH Craig, Harry Kernoff, Charles Lamb, and Michael Bourke himself.
Michael retired in 1971 and moved back to Westport where he died in 1985. Michael"s medium was painting, mostly with oil on canvas or oil on board but he commonly used watercolours on board for paintings that featured any expanse of water.
The initial image was usually sketched in pencil and later filled with colour.
Michael drew most of his inspiration from nature and the West of Ireland. He had a particular liking for painting mountains and expanses of water, often in the same painting. He also painted a significant number of harbour and quay scenes, depicting fishermen at work, currachs, trawlers, Galway hookers and various piers.
Micheal used to attend and exhibit his paintings at numerous exhibitions around the country, notably the annual RHA Exhibition and the NCAD Exhibition.
There have also been 2 posthumous exhibitions, one in 1988 in the Marketing Centre in Cork City, and one in 2009 in the Customs House in Westport, coinciding with the Westport Arts Festival of 2009.
