Frank McKelvey, RHA, RUA (1895 - 1974)
Frank McKelvey, RHA, RUA
(1895 - 1974)
"A Bridge in Donegal"
Watercolour, 14½” x 20¾”
(1895 - 1974)
"A Bridge in Donegal"
Watercolour, 14½” x 20¾”
Irish landscape and portrait painter, Frank McKelvey was born in Belfast on June 3rd. 1895. The son of a painter and decorator, he worked as a poster designer before entering The Belfast School of Art, where he won several prizes for his figure drawing. In 1917 he won the prestigious Taylor Art competition in Dublin. From as early as 1918 his works were hung in the Royal Hibernian Academy and until 1973 he never missed a year there, sometimes showing as many as eight paintings annually. He was appointed an associate of the RHA in 1923 and in 1930 he became a full member. He was elected a member of the Belfast Art Society and also of the Ulster Society of Painters. When the Ulster Academy of Arts was formed in 1930 he was one of the first academicians.
In a 1923 issue of The Studio he was included, alongside Paul Henry and J.Humbert Craig, in a ‘distinct group of artists whose landscapes, though by no means emotional, are always most obviously sincere, closely observed, firmly and cleanly handled’. S.B. Kennedy, in his book on Frank McKelvey says that ‘he helped to forge a new and distinct way of representing the Irish scene which is the nearest approximation we have to a distinct Irish school of painting.’
There are no fewer than ten portraits of his at Queen’s University, Belfast. He was represented by landscapes in the exhibition of Irish art at Brussels in 1930 and was among the first Irish painters represented in the Hackett Galleries, New York. In 1931 he executed thirteen large-scale portrait drawings of Presidents of the United States who were of Ulster descent.
In a 1923 issue of The Studio he was included, alongside Paul Henry and J.Humbert Craig, in a ‘distinct group of artists whose landscapes, though by no means emotional, are always most obviously sincere, closely observed, firmly and cleanly handled’. S.B. Kennedy, in his book on Frank McKelvey says that ‘he helped to forge a new and distinct way of representing the Irish scene which is the nearest approximation we have to a distinct Irish school of painting.’
There are no fewer than ten portraits of his at Queen’s University, Belfast. He was represented by landscapes in the exhibition of Irish art at Brussels in 1930 and was among the first Irish painters represented in the Hackett Galleries, New York. In 1931 he executed thirteen large-scale portrait drawings of Presidents of the United States who were of Ulster descent.