The Hon. Hector John McDonnell (born 1947) is a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

painter, etcher, and author, specializing in architectural art, landscape, and portrait work.

Early life

A younger son of

Randal McDonnell, 8th Earl of Antrim Randal John Somerled McDonnell, 8th Earl of Antrim KBE (1911–1977) was a diplomat, activist, soldier and administrator from Northern Ireland. He became chairman of the National Trust in 1965. Life He was the son of Randal Mark Kerr McDonnell, ...

, by his marriage to the sculptor

Angela Sykes Angela Christina MacDonnell, Countess of Antrim (6 September 1911 – 27 August 1984), also known as Angela Antrim, was Countess of Antrim, a sculptor, a cartoonist, and an illustrator. Early life and education Angela Christina Sykes was born 6 ...

, and the younger brother of Alexander McDonnell, Hector McDonnell was born 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 ...

. He grew up on the family estate at

Glenarm Glenarm () is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies on the North Channel coast north of the town of Larne and the village of Ballygalley, and south of the village of Carnlough. It is situated in the civil parish of Tickmacrevan a ...

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, and was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, where he read modern history. In 1965 and 1966, before going up to Oxford, he studied painting in Munich and Vienna.Biography
at hectormcdonnell.com, accessed 8 September 2019

Artistic career

McDonnell lives and works in Northern Ireland and New York, but maintains close links with Germany. In 1979, he was the winner of the ''Darmstädter Kunstpreis'' and held a Retrospective Exhibition at the Matildenhöhe, Darmstadt, in 1981. His first book, ''The Ould Orange Flute'', was published in 1983. A further Retrospective Exhibition was at the

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasure ...

, Belfast, from 2003 to 2004. The ''

Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media. Its editor is Eoin Brannigan. Reflecting its unionist tradition, the paper has historically been "favoured by the Protestant po ...

'' has described McDonnell as "one of Ireland's greatest living artists".Exhibition of unseen Hector McDonnell works on show at Belfast gallery
in ''Belfast Telegraph'' dated 29 November 2011

Personal life

In 1969 McDonell married Catherine Elizabeth, a daughter of Ronald Chapman, and had a daughter, born in 1971, and a son born the next year, before they divorced in 1974. He also has a daughter by Wendy Lindbergh, born in 2000. In 2019 he was living at the Old Rectory, Glenarm. McDonnell is an uncle of the

Earl of Antrim Earl of Antrim is a title that has been created twice, both times in the Peerage of Ireland and both times for members of the MacDonnell family, originally of Scottish origins. History The MacDonells of Antrim descended from Sorley Boy MacDo ...

and the artist Lady Flora McDonnell.Susan Morris, ed. '' Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage 2019'' (2019)
p. 1554
/ref>

Publications

*''The Ould Orange Flute'' (Blackstaff Press, 1983) *''The Night before Larry was Stretched'' (Blackstaff Press, 1984) *''A Chinese Journey'' (1986, edited by Anna Pao-Sohmen, illustrated by Hector McDonnell) *''A Journey to Tsaparang'' (A Journey to Tsaparang (Gschwendtner Blätter, 1990) *''Fools Rush in: A Call to Christian Clowning'' (1993, with

Roly Bain David Roualeyn Findlater "Roly" Bain (18 January 1954 – 11 August 2016) was an English priest and clown who preached and performed as Holy Roly. He helped set up the organisation Holy Fools. Early life and education His father was Kenneth Br ...

) *''The Wild Geese of the Antrim MacDonnells'' (Irish Academic Press, 1996) *''A Rwandan Journey - Sept-Oct 1996'' (1996) *''Diction Aires & French Letters'' (2000, with Elisabeth Wise) *''A History of Dunluce'' (2004) *''Irish Round Towers'' (Wooden Books, 2005, ) *''St Patrick: his life and legend'' (2007) *''Ireland's Other Poetry: Anonymous to Zozimus'' (The Lilliput Press, 2007, with John Wyse Jackson,) *''Holy Hills and Pagan Places of Ireland'' (2008) *''Dublin's Other Poetry: Rhymes and Songs of the City'' (The Lilliput Press, 2009, with John Wyse Jackson) *''Ulster's Other Poetry: Verses and Songs of the Province'' (The Lilliput Press, 2009, with John Wyse Jackson) *''Ireland's Other History'' (2015)

Notes

External links

hectormcdonnell.com
(personal web site)
Hector McDonnell
at

Artnet Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City, in the United States, and is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly traded company based in Berlin that is listed on t ...

*Victoria Mary Clarke
A master at the fine art of humour
(2004) at independent.ie
Hector McDonnell
jameswray.ie

Bibliography

*''Hector McDONNELL ARUA'' (Solomon Gallery, exhibition catalogue, 2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:McDonnell, Hector 1947 births People educated at Eton College Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Irish painters Irish etchers People from County Antrim Living people Younger sons of earls