Beschreibung:

Artist: George Campbell RHA RUA (1917-1979) Title: The Sower (1966) Signature: signed lower right Medium: oil on board Size: 52½ x 39cm (20.7 x 15.4in) Framed Size: 68.8 x 54.8cm (27.1 x 21.6in) Provenance: The Ritchie Hendriks Gallery, Dublin (label verso); Collection of Mr. & Mrs. M. Miller; Private Collection Exhibited: Ritchie Hendriks Gallery, July 1966 a#morebtn { color: #de1d01; } a#morebtn:hover { cursor: pointer;} A dramatic composition, in which dashes of grey, white and dark blue paint combine to express a sense of energy and movement, The Sower in its subject matter recalls images by Millet and Vincent Van Gogh The age-old theme, of a farmer sowing seeds in the ground, is given a new lease of life in this... Read more George Campbell Lot 43 - 'The Sower (1966)' Estimate: €5,000 - €7,000 A dramatic composition, in which dashes of grey, white and dark blue paint combine to express a sense of energy and movement, The Sower in its subject matter recalls images by Millet and Vincent Van Gogh The age-old theme, of a farmer sowing seeds in the ground, is given a new lease of life in this forceful painting. Face hidden; the farmer is depicted bending down as he goes about his work. One hand reaches into the seed bag carried around his shoulder, while the other hand scatters the seed. His shoe-an unexpectedly fashionable sneaker-is visible to the right of the painting. The grey gables of a house can be seen at the top of the composition. The Sower is likely based on scenes that Campbell had witnessed on his travels in rural Spain. In September 1963 Campbell designed a stained glass window, also based on the theme of sowing seed, for the church of St. Colman in Tierneevan, Gort, Co. Galway. George Campbell was one of a group of Belfast artists, including Gerard Dillon Daniel O'Neill and Nevill Johnson who emerged in the early 1940s. Although he and his brother Arthur were born in Arklow, Co. Wicklow, after their mother, the artist Gretta Bowen, was widowed, they were raised in Belfast. His brother Arthur also became an artist. Largely self-taught, Campbell's first paintings were inspired by the bombing, by the Luftwaffe, of Belfast in 1941. Escaping this destruction, he also went on trips to Connemara, with his friend Gerard Dillon Campbell first showed at the Mol Gallery in Belfast, and in 1946 his first one-person exhibition was held at the Waddington Gallery in Dublin. The following year, he was in the annual exhibition at the RHA, and over his lifetime was to show over one hundred works at the Academy. Visiting Paris in 1950, he became friendly with Ossip Zadkine before returning to Ireland where he stayed and painted in Gerard Dillon's cottage on Inishlackan Island, off Roundstone in Connemara. Although Spanish subject-matter appears in Campbell's paintings from 1947 onwards, it was not until 1951 that he actually visited Spain. He returned regularly thereafter, to Catalonia and Malaga, traveling and painting, learning Flamenco guitar, and absorbing the influence of the landscape, light, and culture of the Iberian peninsula. Over the following three decades, Campbell divided his time between Spain and Ireland, exhibiting regularly at the Waddington Gallery and also, latterly, at the Hendriks Gallery, where this present work was shown in 1966. His best paintings date from the 1960s, when his appreciation of Spanish and Irish landscapes combined with a strong Cubist sensibility and confident use of paint. As well as being a painter, Campbell was an accomplished musician, author and broadcaster, and his work was widely exhibited in galleries and museums throughout Ireland. In 1973 he was the subject of an RTE film, Things within Things. Peter Murray, June 2021