George Campbell RHA (1917-1979) Dublin, Showery Night Oil on board, 59.75 x 49.5cm, (23.5 x 19.5'') Signed Exhibited: The George Campbell Exhibition, Ritchie Hendriks Gallery, Dublin, whence...

George Campbell RHA (1917-1979) Dublin, Showery Night Oil on board, 59.75 x 49.5cm, (23.5 x 19.5'') Signed Exhibited: The George Campbell Exhibition, Ritchie Hendriks Gallery, Dublin, whence purchased by Dr & Mrs J.B. Kearney, August 1967, Cat. no. 18, illustrated front cover of catalogue; Arts Council of Northern Ireland, details untraced, no.10 That lacy, filigree effect so beloved of Campbell in the 1960s here renders perfectly the magic of a wet night in Dublin. Ghostly, ectoplasmic shapes rise from the river to present an otherwordly scene. The mysterious and the spiritual were never far from Campbell's thoughts especially when linked, as in this case, to a place of special significance to him. Widely regarded as a northern artist, he was, in fact, born in Wicklow and schooled in Dublin. The nineteen-forties saw himself and his wife Madge living in Belfast and it is said that it was the experience of that city's blitz which inspired him to paint. Ever open to new experiences and influences, his first visit to Spain in 1951was a real turning-point in his life. He saw himself as a Spaniard manqu? and took to the culture hook, line and sinker. Not only did he warm to the people and the landscape, he succumbed to their way of thinking and to the duende, the ancient spirit which runs through the Hispanic blood. Gifted with the ear of a linguist and a musician, he played flamenco guitar to contest-winning standard. Interested in man standing alone and nobly, he preferred to depict figures in a work mode, digging, dancing, playing an instrument rather than merely posing. Because of this he tended to choose rural rather than urban locations for his landscapes; his Irish landscapes are almost exclusively set in the rugged locales of the west. Notably, he did show Spanish cities, especially when en f?te, as in the case of the Easter processions in M?laga, Toledo and Granada. The present Dublin scene is reminiscent of such with the sweep of the Liffey standing in for the processional sweep of the faithful. Just as in the festival pieces he conjures up the noisy, histrionic atmosphere, here he conveys the mysteries and frissons of a crepuscular Dublin. Campbell liked to paint at night, in Spain by the light of a naked bulb, in the West of Ireland by paraffin-lamp. According to Garc?a Lorca, a poet much admired by Campbell, 'Everything that has black sounds in it, has duende. This mysterious force that everyone feels and no philosopher has explained is, in sum, the spirit of the earth.' It is this spirit which held sovereign over Campbell's imagination and empowered him to produce such empathetic portraits of the places he loved. Interestingly, the year Dublin, Showery Night was first shown, 1967, was the year he bought his first home at Leeson Park Avenue. Perhaps the painting, priced at 95 guineas in the Ritchie Hendriks Gallery George Campbell Exhibition in August of that year, helped him in his purchase. S?le Connaughton-Deeny, 2007

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