Seán O’Sullivan was born in 44 St Joseph’s Terrace, South Circular Road, and later raised in 126 St Stephen’s Green in Dublin, where his father, John, ran a business as a carpenter and joiner. He was educated with the Christian Brothers at Synge Street. Measuring over six feet, he was a good boxer, a fencer, a squash player and an enthusiastic sailor. He was also a keen reader and was fluent in both Irish and French.
O’Sullivan entered the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art in 1926 w
here one of his teachers was Sean Keating. His student days were intermittent but while at the school O’Sullivan came to the attention of the then Headmaster, George Atkinson, who arranged for him to undertake a three month training course in lithography at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London under Archibold Standish Hartrick. While in London, O’Sullivan met, and later married, a young Anglo-Dutch art student, Rene Mouw, and the pair spent their early married years studying in Paris.
He then worked as a lithographer with Frank Brangwyn, having returned to London in the late 1920s. The couple returned to Dublin in the early 1930s and in 1936 O’Sullivan took a studio at Molesworth Street where he remained until he moved to 6 St Stephen’s Green in 1939. He remained in that studio until his death in 1964.
Working in the centre of Dublin meant that O’Sullivan was well-connected in the social scene at the time. He was on friendly terms with many of Ireland’s best-known writers, actors, poets and painters including Sean Keating, Hilda Van Stockum, Maurice MacGonigal, Harry Kernoff, Patrick Kavanagh, Myles na gCopaleen, F.R. Higgins and John Ryan.
Adam's hosted a single sale of O'Sullivan's work in May 2012. Plaese click here to view the full catalogue with essay by Dr Éimear O'Connor.
O'Sullivans work also featured in "Ireland: Her people and landscape" (2012) exhibition. Please click here to view the catalogue.
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