Colin Middleton, RHA, RUA, MBE (1910 – 1983)
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Colin Middleton, RHA, RUA, MBE (1910 - 1983) "Sunflowers" Oil on canvas board, 11¾" x 11¾"
Colin Middleton is considered to be one of the foremost modern Irish landscape and figurative artists of the 20th century. He was born in Belfast in 1910 and first studied art at the Belfast College of Art, where his fellow students included the artists, William Scott and F.E. McWilliam. Throughout his life as an artist, Middleton was a restless innovator and constantly re-invented both the style and subject matter of his paintings, producing artworks that could be variously described as being expressionist, figurative, symbolist or abstract in style.
In 1928, while visiting London, he saw an exhibition of paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, which had a profound influence on his own expressionistic style of painting at that time. However, the early 1930’s saw a shift in his painting style, and a fascination with the surrealist paintings of Joan Miro and Salvador Dali, led him to produce works that were much more surrealist in style. He is quoted as saying that “…in the 1930’s I was the only surrealist painter working in Ireland”.
He first exhibited his paintings at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin in 1938 and held his first solo exhibition in Dublin at the Grafton Gallery in 1944. He was subsequently represented by the Victor Waddington Gallery in Dublin, where he exhibited from 1948 to 1955. Through the Waddington Gallery, he developed an international reputation for his pintings and also held solo exhibitions in Dublin, Boston, London and Belfast. During the 1950’s he exhibited alongside fellow Belfast artists, Gerard Dillon, George Campbell and Daniel O’Neil at the Irish Exhibition of Living Art. This group of artists from Belfast, each working in their own individual way, were very much at the forefront of modern painting in Ireland at that time. The Irish Exhibition of Living Art was established in Dublin in 1943, by Irish artists, Mainie Jellett, Evie Hone, Norah McGuinness and Louis le Brocquy as a way of showcasing modern contemporary art, which they felt wasn’t properly represented in the exhibitions of the established art institutions in Dublin at that time.
As an artist, Middleton’s talents ranged far and wide, in addition to his prolific output of paintings, he was an accomplished musician and poet and also produced murals and mosaics and designed theatre sets. In 1970 he was elected a full member of the Royal Hibernian Academy, and the following year, in recognition of his achievements as an artist he was awarded an MBE. In 1976, a major retrospective exhibition was held at the Ulster Museum, Belfast and the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art in Dublin. Unceasing in his artistic output, Colin Middleton continued to exhibit at the Royal Hibernian Academy until the year of his death in 1983, and the ‘Dublin Magazine’ in an article, praising his creativity said at the time that 'Apart from the brilliance of his paint, he has one rare quality in his inexhaustible capacity for wonder'.
In 1928, while visiting London, he saw an exhibition of paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, which had a profound influence on his own expressionistic style of painting at that time. However, the early 1930’s saw a shift in his painting style, and a fascination with the surrealist paintings of Joan Miro and Salvador Dali, led him to produce works that were much more surrealist in style. He is quoted as saying that “…in the 1930’s I was the only surrealist painter working in Ireland”.
He first exhibited his paintings at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin in 1938 and held his first solo exhibition in Dublin at the Grafton Gallery in 1944. He was subsequently represented by the Victor Waddington Gallery in Dublin, where he exhibited from 1948 to 1955. Through the Waddington Gallery, he developed an international reputation for his pintings and also held solo exhibitions in Dublin, Boston, London and Belfast. During the 1950’s he exhibited alongside fellow Belfast artists, Gerard Dillon, George Campbell and Daniel O’Neil at the Irish Exhibition of Living Art. This group of artists from Belfast, each working in their own individual way, were very much at the forefront of modern painting in Ireland at that time. The Irish Exhibition of Living Art was established in Dublin in 1943, by Irish artists, Mainie Jellett, Evie Hone, Norah McGuinness and Louis le Brocquy as a way of showcasing modern contemporary art, which they felt wasn’t properly represented in the exhibitions of the established art institutions in Dublin at that time.
As an artist, Middleton’s talents ranged far and wide, in addition to his prolific output of paintings, he was an accomplished musician and poet and also produced murals and mosaics and designed theatre sets. In 1970 he was elected a full member of the Royal Hibernian Academy, and the following year, in recognition of his achievements as an artist he was awarded an MBE. In 1976, a major retrospective exhibition was held at the Ulster Museum, Belfast and the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art in Dublin. Unceasing in his artistic output, Colin Middleton continued to exhibit at the Royal Hibernian Academy until the year of his death in 1983, and the ‘Dublin Magazine’ in an article, praising his creativity said at the time that 'Apart from the brilliance of his paint, he has one rare quality in his inexhaustible capacity for wonder'.