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George Campbell RHA (1917-1979) Procession, Andalucia Oil on board, 61 x 45.5cm (24 x 17�'') Signed, inscribed verso Exhibited: ''Gerard Dillon - Art and Friendships'' Exhibition, Adams, Dublin, July 2013 and The Ava Gallery, Clandeboye, August 2013, Cat. No. 15 Literature: ''Gerard Dillon, Art and Friendships'', illustrated p.13 George Campbell's initial interest in Processions may have been influenced by Gerard Dillon's works, ''Procession, Tuscany'' and 'Corpus Christi, Roundstone'' which were exhibited at the Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1949 and 1950. After the War, the two friends went on painting excursions together to the West and the North of the Country depicting similar subjects and both had an interest in Celtic design, which Campbell later developed into decorative cubist landscapes in both his Irish and Spanish subjects. Towards the end of 1951, following a trip to Southern Spain with Gerard Dillon the Campbell's traveled to Andaluc�a annually for the winter months. Attracted to the warmer climate and cheap accommodation, George Campbell held his first solo exhibition in Torremolinos in the mid 1950's. An extrovert, Campbell frequented Malaga's 'La Buena Sombra', a large Inn where the locals gathered around him to discuss literature, music and art. Learning the language, he also became an accomplished Flamenco guitarist. His passion for music transferred to his painting and he later recalled in an interview in the 1960's, ''I was in Spain at the heart of the very best Flamenco and it started to run parallel with my painting.'' Holy Week Procession, Andaluc�a depicts floats or ''andas'' snaking through a street past crowds of people. Often painting at nighttime, Campbell enjoyed the effects of poor lighting, ''The lighting is so bad, and it carries with it this added dimension of shadows hopping about in all sorts of directions?'' Depicted in artificial light, the street is set against a Prussian blue mountainous landscape. Shapes appear magically distorted and dark-toned tunics, hooded figures, banners and beating drums in tones of brown and creamy white capture a moment in time during the historical Easter celebrations the Andalucians celebrate annually known as the Semana Santa. The Semana Santa is traditionally organized by brotherhoods, which coordinate the logistics including the carriers or ''cucuruchos''. Some Processions can begin at dawn and conclude after dark involving a huge number of people. The first ''anda'' bears a heavy statue of a cross-laden Jesus of Nazareth and can be carried by a hundred men. The second 'anda' is a smaller float born by women transporting Virgin de Delores, who represents the Virgin Mary grieving over Jesus crucifixion. Executed in the late 1950's's, shapes appear typically piled up as the hooded figures form a pattern of shapes or the shapes appear as a compressed mass in the broad or narrow streets. Harmony, colour and rhythm play a major part employing a strongly individual technique similar to that of a Composer, ''I start out by picking everything out with one finger on a piano, build it up gradually and hope that finally I'll have an orchestra going.'' In 1955, The Belfast Telegraph favorably reviewed the first appearance of Campbell's Procession series exhibited at The Piccadilly Gallery in group show with Gerard Dillon '' Holy Week, Procession, Malaga, is an outstanding exhibit in which he gives formal clarity and cohesion to an extremely involved subject''. Campbell returned to the subject throughout his life until the shapes become barely visible, the noise softer and the moving Procession becomes shrouded in a mist of soft colour. Karen Reihill is currently researching Gerard Dillon & Friends George Campbell RHA (1917-1979) Procession, Andalucia Oil on board, 61 x 45.5cm (24 x 17�'') Signed, inscribed verso Exhibited: ''Gerard Dillon - Art and Friendships'' Exhibition, Adams, Dublin, July 2013 and The Ava Gallery, Clandeboye, August 2013, Cat. No. 15 Lit