37
Arthur Armstrong RHA (1924-1996)
Estimate:
€1,500 - €2,000
Sold
€1,400
Live Auction
Irish & International Art Auction
Size
20 by 24in. (50.8 by 61cm)
Description
Title: LOW TIDE
Note: Born in Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim in 1924, Arthur Armstrong briefly attended Queen’s University, studying Political Science and then Architecture, before leaving to attend classes in the Belfast College of Art, where he met contemporary artists Gerard Dillon, Dan O’Neill and George Campbell. Armstrong was not an immediate success and struggled as an artist throughout the forties, supplementing his meagre earnings with clerical jobs. The 1950s were more successful years for Armstrong, exhibiting in both Belfast and Dublin and winning a CEMA travel scholarship to Spain in 1957. In 1962, Armstrong settled in Dublin, exhibiting extensively with the Ritchie Hendriks Gallery and at the Royal Hibernian Academy for the first time in 1962. In 1967 he was awarded a prize at the Gibraltar International Art Exhibition, and in 1968 received the Douglas Hyde Gold Medal at the Oireachtas Exhibition. He became an associate member of the RHA in 1969, and continued to exhibit there until 1995, contributing more than 70 works over a period of 33 years. 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. The present work was included in that important retrospective. Throughout his career, Armstrong influenced younger artists, and worked part-time as a teacher of painting at the National College of Art. He died in 1996, at the age of 72.
Note: Born in Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim in 1924, Arthur Armstrong briefly attended Queen’s University, studying Political Science and then Architecture, before leaving to attend classes in the Belfast College of Art, where he met contemporary artists Gerard Dillon, Dan O’Neill and George Campbell. Armstrong was not an immediate success and struggled as an artist throughout the forties, supplementing his meagre earnings with clerical jobs. The 1950s were more successful years for Armstrong, exhibiting in both Belfast and Dublin and winning a CEMA travel scholarship to Spain in 1957. In 1962, Armstrong settled in Dublin, exhibiting extensively with the Ritchie Hendriks Gallery and at the Royal Hibernian Academy for the first time in 1962. In 1967 he was awarded a prize at the Gibraltar International Art Exhibition, and in 1968 received the Douglas Hyde Gold Medal at the Oireachtas Exhibition. He became an associate member of the RHA in 1969, and continued to exhibit there until 1995, contributing more than 70 works over a period of 33 years. 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. The present work was included in that important retrospective. Throughout his career, Armstrong influenced younger artists, and worked part-time as a teacher of painting at the National College of Art. He died in 1996, at the age of 72.
Medium
oil on board
Signature
signed lower left; titled on reverse
Exhibited
'Arthur Armstrong Retrospective - Paintings 1950-80', Arts Council of Northern Ireland, June 1981
