Gladys Maccabe was born in, Antrim. Her mother Elizabeth was a designer in the linen business, and her father George Chalmers, was a former army officer and artist specialising in calligraphy and illumination.
Artistic from a young age, at 16 she had a picture published in the Royal Drawing Society's magazine. She went on to study at the Belfast College of Art. In 1941 she married fellow artist and musician Max Maccabe. She and Max exhibited together on many occasions.
Gladys and Max were
members of the group of artists known as The Contemporary Ulster Group, which included Dan O'Neill, George Campbell, and Gerard Dillon. She formed the Ulster Society of Women Artists in 1957, as she felt that there was an untapped wealth of talent among the women artists of Northern Ireland. The Society's first major exhibition was in the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery in 1959.
Much of Gladys' work is concerned with the depiction of gatherings of people, whether at a race meetings, a fair or market, on the beach or in a shop. She has also painted flowers, still lifes, and a variety of abstract works.
During the height of The Troubles in Northern Ireland in 1969, Gladys was moved to depict the scenes she saw around her at that time. In October 1969 four of her paintings were included in the annual exhibition of The Royal Institute of Oil Painters in London. These paintings were entitled Barricades, Blazing Warehouse, Petrol Bomb Sequel and Funeral of a Victim.
In 1989, a retrospective exhibition of her work was held at The George Gallery, Dublin, featuring paintings dating from 1935 to 1989.
Examples of her work are in The Ulster Museum, The Royal Ulster Academy, The Arts Council of Ireland Collection, The Imperial War Museum.
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