Arthur Armstrong (12 January 1924 – 1996) was a painter from Carrickfergus,

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, who often worked in a Cubist style and produced landscape and still-life works. Armstrong was born in Carrickfergus on 12 January 1924. He was the son of a house painter and attended Strandtown Primary School. Later he studied architecture at

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

, but after two years he moved to study art at Belfast College of Art. The influence of Cubism and the

School of Paris The School of Paris (french: École de Paris) refers to the French and émigré artists who worked in Paris in the first half of the 20th century. The School of Paris was not a single art movement or institution, but refers to the importance ...

can be clearly seen in his work, which took him to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. He also travelled and painted in the West of Ireland and Connemara inspired some of his best work. In 1950 his work was exhibited in the Grafton Gallery in Dublin, and subsequent exhibitions took place in England, Spain and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, as well as in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

and Dublin. In 1957 he was awarded a travelling scholarship from the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (a forerunner of the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...

) and went to Spain. He eventually settled in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in 1962 and began showing work at the

Royal Hibernian Academy The Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823. Like many other Irish institutions, such as the RIA, the academy retained the word "Royal" after most of Ireland became in ...

. In 1968 he was awarded the Douglas Hyde Gold Medal at the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The bicameralism, two houses of the Oireachtas ...

Exhibition. In 1969 he designed sets (with George Campbell and

Gerard Dillon Gerard Dillon (191614 June 1971) was an Irish painter and artist. Life Dillon was born in Belfast, he left school at the age of fourteen and for seven years worked as a painter and decorator, mostly in London. From an early age he was intere ...

) for the Seán O'Casey play, ''

Juno and the Paycock ''Juno and the Paycock'' is a play by Seán O'Casey. Highly regarded and often performed in Ireland, it was first staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1924. It is set in the working-class tenements of Dublin in the early 1920s, during the Ir ...

'', at the

Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre ( ga, Amharclann na Mainistreach), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland ( ga, Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann), in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the pu ...

in Dublin. He became a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1972 and in 1973 he was awarded the Art in Context prize from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. He became a member of Aosdána in 1981, the same year that a retrospective exhibition of his work from 1950 to 1980 was held by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Armstrong died in 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Arthur 1924 births 1996 deaths People from Carrickfergus 20th-century painters from Northern Ireland Male painters from Northern Ireland Aosdána members Alumni of Ulster University Alumni of Belfast School of Art Artists from County Antrim

See also

References