Elizabeth Taggart
Irish b. 1943
Elizabeth Taggart was born in Donaghadee, Co. Down, in 1943. She is the only daughter in a family of three. She was trained under John Luke and Romeo Toogood in Belfast’s College of Art, and whilst her figures echo Luke, her paintings are filled with symbolic images.
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Elizabeth Taggart is renowned for her flamboyant style and meticulous attention to detail. She claims Ireland, its culture, landscape and people, to be her main inspiration. Another influence upon the artist’s work comes from travelling to places such as Mexico, India and Portugal, drawing upon the religious and pagan imagery so prevalent there.
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Taggart's paintings are sometimes ‘self-portraits’. They consist of masked pierrots depicting her own suspicious nature, distrusting of the world we all live in, as she would prefer to remain in her own world: a house by the sea, cushioned from the outside world. Her house is full of quirky furniture, close to nature and animals and away from human life.
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Taggart has exhibited on various occasions with the RHA, the Royal Academy and the Irish Exhibition of Living Art.
