Career
Mary or May Manning (1853-1827 January 1930) was an Irish landscape artist and teacher. Apart from a period of time living in Hampstead, London from 1889 to 1892, Manning lived in the family home at Ely Place from 1880. She died there on 27 January 1930.
Manning studied in Paris in the 1870s with Louise Catherine Breslau and Sarah Purser.
She worked primarily in oil and watercolour. From 1880 to 1892, her work was exhibited by the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, the Walker Art Gallery, the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), and in Brussels.
Manning is best known for her influence on a number of Irish women artists of the time. Amongst the artists she taught and influenced are Mary Swanzy and Mainie Jellett.
Her teaching took up most of her time, which led to her exhibiting her own work infrequently.
An oil painting of a landscape and setting sun by Manning is on display in the National Gallery of Ireland, whilst her Study of a boy is in the collections of the Hugh Lane Gallery.