Edward McGuire (painter)

The Irish portraitist, still-life artist and bird painter Edward McGuire was born in Dublin on 10 April 1932.

In the early 1950s he befriended artists and writers such as Patrick Swift (who encouraged McGuire to paint), Anthony Cronin and Lucian Freud (Slade[2]).

All this, notwithstanding, McGuire used a laboriously meticulous painting technique which led to the completion of only about six works of art a year.

McGuire's keen interest in bird painting stemmed from the association in his youth with a taxidermist at the Natural History Museum in Dublin.

McGuire purchased three stuffed specimens from Mr Williams, starting a bird collection whose members he painted repeatedly in intricate detail throughout his career.