Imogen Stuart

Imogen Stuart (née Werner; 1927 – 24 March 2024) was a German-Irish sculptor, influenced by 19th-century Expressionism and early Irish Christian art. She mainly produced wood and stone for settings for churches, but also produced works in bronze, clay and terracotta, created many secular works, and was exhibited internationally.

Born and raised in pre-war Berlin as the daughter of the well-known art critic Bruno E. Werner, she was exposed to modern developments in the visual arts from an early age and a significant influence on her later work. She studied in Bavaria under the sculptor and professor Otto Hitzberger, who became an early mentor. She met the fellow Hitzberger student and later important Irish sculptor Ian Stuart while in Bavaria in 1948. The couple relocated to Ireland in 1961, at first living at his parents' house in Glendalough, Co. Wicklow, before moving to Sandycove, Co. Dublin. Ian Stuart was the grandson of the Irish republican revolutionary Maud Gonne. They had three daughters, but divorced in 1973.

Stuart spent most of her life in Ireland, occasionally returning to live in Berlin. During her long career, she became one of Ireland's best-known sculptors, with her work placed in both public spaces and private collections throughout Europe and the U.S.