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Thomas Ryan Artist (1929-2021)
Thomas Ryan PPRHA was a prominent member of the Royal Hibernian Academy. Born in Limerick in 1929 Ryan grew up in Davis Street in the city. He was educated at the Limerick College of Art and the National College of Art Dublin where he studied under well-known artists such as Sean Keating and Maurice McGonigal. Ryan worked in a variety of media, including oil paints, watercolours, charcoal, pencil and red and brown chalks. Some of his portraiture subjects include President Patrick Hillary, Seán Keating and Eamon DeValera.
His works Flight of the Earls and GPO 1916 are regarded as two of the country’s most important historical works. Ryan’s medallic work included designing the old Irish one pound coin and the Millennium fifty pence piece. During his ten-year presidency of the Royal Hibernian Academy he undertook the task of successfully completing the unfinished RHA Gallagher Gallery in Dublin.
