George Campbell RHA RUA

George Campbell was a landscape, still life and figure painter born in Co Wicklow educated in Masonic Orphan Boys’ School at Clonskeagh, Dublin as his father died when he was only eight years old and then later on in London and Paris. George first started painting in 1941 after the air raids on Belfast. Having pretty much been self taught he decided to make a living out of his works and so in 1944, he and his brother Arthur Campbell exhibited their works at the Mol Gallery in Belfast.

In 1947, Campbell exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy for the first time and a few years later, having lived in Spain for 25 years, he began to produce his Spanish pictures such as ‘Spanish Market; Net Menders, Catalonia’ and ‘Harbour, Catalonia’. 1954, George was elected as a member of the Water Colour Society of Ireland and appointed an associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy, becoming a full member in 1964.

Campbell passed away in 1979 and was buried at Glendalough, Co. Wicklow. The George Campbell Memorial Travel Award was introduced in order to commemorate the associations and connections he made with Spain.