Born in Arklow, Co. Wicklow, George Campbell went to school in Dublin and moved to Belfast with his family. A self taught artist, he began painting in 1941 during the air raids. By 1944 he had developed his own style and held two shows – one with his brother Arthur at the Mol Gallery in Belfast, and another at John Lamb’s Gallery in Portadown with Gerard Dillon, with whom he travelled to Connemara in the following years.
In 1946 Campbell held his first solo show at the Victor Waddington Gal
leries in Dublin, and repeatedly at the RHA from the following year. He also appeared in a group show in 1948, along with Dillon, Daniel O’Neill and Nevill Johnson at Heal’s Mansard Gallery, London. In 1951 Campbell made his first trip to Spain and returned annually for 6 months until his death. The country had a profound influence on both the subject matter and use of colour in his work. He had shows in Madrid, Malaga, Torremolinos and Gibraltar, as well as exhibiting regularly with the Ritchie Hendriks from 1957 and later with the Tom Caldwell Galleries. In 1964 Campbell was elected a member of the RHA. He was made a Knight Commander of Spain by the Spanish government in 1978, and has had a major roundabout named after him near Malaga in 2006.
A major retrospective of his work - 'George Campbell and the Belfast Boys' - took place in Summer 2015 in Adams, St Stephen's Green and the Ava Gallery, Clandeboye. Please click here to view the extensively illustrated catalogue with essay by Karen Reihill.
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