Jim Fitzpatrick (artist)

Template:Use dmy dates Template:Short description Template:Infobox artist Jim Fitzpatrick (born 1944) is an Irish artist. He is best known for elaborately detailed work inspired by the Irish Celtic artistic tradition. However, his most famous single piece is a two-tone portrait of Che Guevara created in 1968, based on a photo by Alberto Korda.<ref name="BBC20071005">Template:Cite news</ref>

Early life

Jim Fitzpatrick was born in December 1944 to James and Elizabeth Fitzpatrick (née O'Connor). His parents had married in the north Dublin suburb of Cabra in June 1943. During a period of childhood sickness with pleurisy, Fitzpatrick read and drew in bed, as well as his mother and great-aunt telling him stories of the Tuatha Dé Danann, Cú Chulainn and Fionn MacCumhaill.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref> He was educated at the Franciscan College Gormanston, County Meath, just north of Dublin.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> His father was a photo-journalist and he is a grandson of political cartoonist Thomas Fitzpatrick.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

File:FitzpatrickChe.jpg

Portrait of Che Guevara (1968)

File:Jim Fitzpatrick portrait of Patrick Whelan 2022.jpg

Portrait of Patrick Whelan (2022)

Fitzpatrick's earliest work was the graphic portrait of Che Guevara, which was based on the photograph by Alberto Korda, entitled Guerrillero Heroico, was taken on 5 March 1960. Fitzpatrick met Guevara 5 years earlier in Kilkee<ref name="Kilkee">Irish artist who made iconic Che Guevara image is selling his beachfront home In: The Independent, July 6 2018</ref> during Guevara's visit to trace his Irish ancestry.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /> Having initially tried to distribute the poster himself, Fitzpatrick chose to remove copyright from the image so that it could be used freely by left wing groups, stating that "I literally wanted it to breed like rabbits. I wanted it to spread."<ref name=":0" />

In 1978, he wrote and illustrated a book called The Book of Conquests, the retelling of a cycle of Irish myths, the Lebor Gabála Érenn. The book is a retelling of the legends of the coming of the Tuatha dé Dannan to Ireland and their fight with the Fir Bolg. The illustrations include intricate Celtic scroll work and knotwork, for which Fitzpatrick has become known. A second book, The Silver Arm, is based on the deeds of Nuada of the Silver Arm and Lugh in their fight with the Formor.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>

Fitzpatrick has produced artwork for bands such as Thin Lizzy, providing the portraits of the band for their Vagabonds of the Western World album, then going on to illustrate the logo for 1975 album Fighting (frequently displayed onstage thereafter and used on compilation albums and merchandise)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and their Jailbreak album in 1976, for Sinéad O'Connor's 2000 album Faith and Courage, for The Darkness' 2003 single "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)",<ref name=":1" /> Norwegian black metal band Darkthrone's 2013 album cover The Underground Resistance, and took the photograph for the cover of Louise Patricia Crane's 2020 album Deep Blue.<ref name="LPC">Template:Cite web</ref> He was commissioned by CityJet in 2007 to create images reflecting Ireland's culture, mythology, history and landscapes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2011, Fitzpatrick announced that he intended to copyright the iconic red and black Che Guevara graphic. He cited "crass commercial" use of the image for his decision and planned to hand over the copyright and all rights, in perpetuity, to the family of Guevara in Cuba.<ref name="reuters">Humphries, Conor. "Irish artist bids to copyright Guevara image". Reuters. February 17, 2011. Retrieved 2011-3-1.</ref><ref name=":2" /> The image remains available for free through Fitzpatrick's website for non-commercial usage.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> An Post released a stamp featuring Fitzpatrick's image of Guevara in 2017 to mark 50 years since its publication.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In June 2023, Fitzpatrick released Ancient Ireland, Land of Legend, his first portfolio in 40 years.<ref name=portfolio1>Template:Cite web</ref>

Meeting Guevara in Ireland

According to Fitzpatrick, in 1963 while a teenage student at Gormanston College he worked a summer job at the Marine Hotel pub in Kilkee, the town of his mother's birth. One morning Che Guevara walked in with two Cubans. He asked Fitzpatrick what he should drink, and was recommended an Irish whiskey with water. Fitzpatrick immediately recognized him because of his interest in the Cuban Revolution. Knowing about the Irish diaspora and history in Argentina, Fitzpatrick asked Che vaguely about his roots. Che told Fitzpatrick that his grandmother was Irish and that his great-grandmother, Isabel, was from Galway, with other family being from County Cork.Template:Quote boxGuevara's father also bore the Norman-Irish surname "Lynch." Fitzpatrick describes Che as "curious" about Ireland "from a revolutionary point of view" and remarks that Che proclaimed his "great admiration" for the fact that, in his view, Ireland was the first country to "shake off the shackles of the British Empire".<ref name="aleksandramir.info">Template:Cite web</ref> Apparently Che was stranded on an overnight flight from Moscow to Cuba and had touched down at Shannon Airport, where the Soviet airline Aeroflot had a refueling base. Unable to depart because of thick fog, Che and his accompanying Cubans took the day off for an "unofficial" visit. It was this experience, according to Fitzpatrick, that gave him the impetus to follow the future actions of Che, including his ill-fated mission to Bolivia.<ref name="aleksandramir.info" />

In December 2008, Jim Fitzpatrick, along with local historian Anne Holliday and the Shannon Development, announced plans to commemorate Guevara's visit to Ireland, and specifically his time spent in Limerick. Early plans are focused on an exhibition of Guevara's visit at the City Museum, followed by the creation of a "permanent mark" symbolizing his time spent at Hanratty Hotel's – White House pub in Shannonside. Fitzpatrick explained the initiative by remarking "we want to commemorate the fact Che Guevara spent some very important hours of his life here … this probably was Che's last hurrah."<ref>Marking Che Guevara's Limerick Link Limerick Leader, December 4, 2008</ref>

Personal life

Fitzpatrick was partnered and married to Deirdre for over twenty years; they later divorced.<ref name="Jim Fitzp lunch life">Template:Cite news</ref> Fitzpatrick has lived on the Burrow Road in Sutton on the Howth peninsula since the 1970s, in an apartment which later became his studio, in a converted schoolmasters' house, and then back in the apartment.<ref name="Jim Fitzp residences">Template:Cite news</ref> The Fitzpatricks had three children, two of whom are in business with the artist. His younger son, Redmond, issues prints of Fitzpatrick's work from California,<ref name="Jim Fitzp prints">Template:Cite web</ref> while his daughter has produced a line of scarves, Lile, named for his grandmother and printed with his artwork.<ref name="Jim Fitzp scarves">Template:Cite web</ref>

Selected works

Books

• The Book of Conquests 1978 p/b Template:ISBN, 1991 p/b Template:ISBN
• The Silver Arm (1981) Template:ISBN
• The Children of Lir (with Michael Scott) (1992) Template:ISBN
• Erinsaga. The Mythological Paintings of Jim FitzPatrick

Design

• Celtworld

Portfolios

• Celtia (1975)
• The Book of Conquests (1984)
• Ancient Ireland, Land of Legend (2023)<ref name=portfolio1 />

See also

• Irish art

External links

• Interview with Jim Fitzpatrick by Aleksandra Mir, January 3, 2005.
• Marking Che Guevara's Limerick Link Limerick Leader, December 4, 2008
• Template:Usurped with biography and artbooks on Inside Your ART