George Campbell, RHA, RUA 1917 - 1979
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George Campbell, RHA, RUA (1917 - 1979) "Still Life with Flowers" Oil on board, 10" x 12"
“Spain of the ethereal light and the mysterious nights, its introverted extroverted people, its song and dance, its rugged and lace shapes and textures hard wrought by thousands of years.”
George Campbell, Sunday Gallery, 1971.
George Campbell, Sunday Gallery, 1971.
In 1978, the year before his death, George Campbell travelled to Galway to co-ordinate an exhibition entitled Spain by Irish Artists. There was great significance attached to this event, summing up as it did the two major influences on the artist’s work : the west of Ireland and Spain. The landscape of the west of Ireland and the brío of the Spanish culture were his constant references.
George’s attachment to Spain was formally recognized by the Spanish Government in 1978 when he was made a Commander with the Insignia and Privileges of the Order of the Merito Civile, the equivalent of a knighthood. Further evidence of his devotion to the country was the establishment in 1980, the year following his death, of the George Campbell Travel Award by the Spanish Cultural Institute in Dublin and the Arts Councils of the Republic and Northern Ireland. This was a perfect tribute to the artist, not only because of his love for Spain but also because of the fact that, although considered by many to be a Northern artist he was, in fact, born in Arklow and lived most of his adult life between Wicklow and Málaga.
George’s attachment to Spain was formally recognized by the Spanish Government in 1978 when he was made a Commander with the Insignia and Privileges of the Order of the Merito Civile, the equivalent of a knighthood. Further evidence of his devotion to the country was the establishment in 1980, the year following his death, of the George Campbell Travel Award by the Spanish Cultural Institute in Dublin and the Arts Councils of the Republic and Northern Ireland. This was a perfect tribute to the artist, not only because of his love for Spain but also because of the fact that, although considered by many to be a Northern artist he was, in fact, born in Arklow and lived most of his adult life between Wicklow and Málaga.
George Campbell, RHA 1917 - 1979 "Abstract" Mixed Media, 7" x 11"
In the year which brought him great plaudits from the people of Spain he entrusted to celluloid his thoughts on his life and work by recording a three-part interview for B.B.C. Northern Ireland; its overall title was Triptych, the individual programmes being Spain, Ireland and Painting. Rather curiously, in Painting he states that, for him at least, “It’s not possible to talk about art” .Words, he felt, were redundant when it came to painting. Although regarded as a great raconteur, he rarely talked about his art. He was not given to in-depth analysis of his work. Painting, for him, was a given; he did not choose to paint, he was the paint’s medium. It was a process of sublimation whereby all his day-to-day experiences would be stockpiled and then released in a cathartic burst of creativity. “Open the door and let the wind carry it”, as he said to camera. He likened himself to a sponge, constantly soaking up influences and images and storing them up for future compositions as he almost invariably painted from memory.
It is tempting to see him as an amalgam of those two twentieth-century icons, James Joyce and Pablo Picasso. Like his fellow Irishman, Guinness in hand, he is Celtic, obsessive, educated and cultured whilst under Mediterranean light, Moscatel in copa, he is atheistic, confused yet dominant. Like them he observed and studied the human condition. Like theirs Campbell’s is not an easy language; the viewer must contemplate and consider the piece; with familiarity comes comprehension.
Sile Connaughton Deeny
It is tempting to see him as an amalgam of those two twentieth-century icons, James Joyce and Pablo Picasso. Like his fellow Irishman, Guinness in hand, he is Celtic, obsessive, educated and cultured whilst under Mediterranean light, Moscatel in copa, he is atheistic, confused yet dominant. Like them he observed and studied the human condition. Like theirs Campbell’s is not an easy language; the viewer must contemplate and consider the piece; with familiarity comes comprehension.
Sile Connaughton Deeny
