George Campbell (painter)

(Frederick) George Campbell (29 July 1917 – 18 May 1979) was an Irish artist and writer. Though he grew up in Belfast, Campbell spent much of his adult life living and painting in Spain and Dublin, Ireland.

Life

George Campbell was born in Arklow, County Wicklow,[1] the son of Gretta Bowen (1880-1981) and Matthew Campbell (1866-1925).[2] He attended school in Dublin (Masonic Orphan Boys’ School at Clonskeagh) before moving to Belfast to live with his widowed mother and family.[3]

Campbell was working in an aircraft factory at the time of the Belfast Blitz, and began to paint, taking the bomb-damage as his subject.[4] He was one of the founders of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1943.[5] With his brother Arthur (1909-1994), he published Now in Ulster (1944), an anthology of short stories, essays and poetry by young Belfast writers.[6]

After the war Campbell became increasingly interested in Spain. In 1946 he came to know Spaniards who had settled in Dublin, and when in London painted visiting Spanish dancers in their traditional costume. He finally visited Spain in the early 1950s,[7] encouraged by his friendship with Gerald Dillon and "an interest in bohemian characters".[8] He lived there for much of the next twenty-five years.

Campbell made stained glass windows for Galway Cathedral.[9] He also played flamenco guitar. A member of the Royal Hibernian Academy, he won the Douglas Hyde Gold Medal in 1966 and the Oireachtas Prize for Landscape in 1969.[9] The Spanish government made him a Knight Commander of Spain in 1978.[9][1]

In May, 2017, Arklow Municipal District unveiled two plaques at St. Patrick's Terrace, Arklow, marking George's birthplace and 100 years since his birth.

Books
  • (ed. with Arthur Campbell) Now in Ulster, Belfast: A. and G. Campbell, 1944.
  • (illus.) Guide to the National Monuments in the Republic of Ireland, 1970.
  • An eyeful of Ireland, Dublin: A. Figgis, 1973.

References
  1. Kate Newman, Frederick George Campbell (1917 - 1979), Dictionary of Ulster Biography. Accessed 12 January 2013.
  2. 'Bowen, Gretta (1880–1981)', Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia, ed. Anne Commire, 2000. Reprinted online by HighBeam (subscription only).
  3. Brankin, Una (20 August 2015). "The exhibition that's bringing back to life the art of the Belfast Boys". Life: Features. Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  4. George Campbell (1917-1979)
  5. Gabrielle Warnock; Jeff W. O'Connell (November 2000). Face to Face. Trident Press Ltd. p. 228. ISBN 978-1-900724-46-3. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  6. Guy Woodward, Strange Openings: the Second World War in paintings by Colin Middleton, Postgraduate English, Issue No. 20 (September 2009). Accessed 12 January 2013.
  7. 'Spanish eye: George Campbell', The Irish Times, 25 March 2006.
  8. 'Campbell, George', Grove Art Online. Reprinted at Artfact, accessed 12 January 2013.
  9. "Avant garde 'Belfast boys' reunited at The Ava". Life. The Irish News. 25 July 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2016.

Sources
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