Adam’s is holding its annual summer loan show which this year features paintings by George Campbell and other mid-20th century Northern Ireland artists – including Gerard Dillon and Daniel O’Neill – known collectively as the “Belfast Boys”. Adam’s said the artists, considered avant-garde in the 1950s had “drifted out of the public consciousness”.
The exhibition features 100 works – worth an estimated €2 million – on loan from private collections and many are on public view for the first time in 50 years. Paintings by George Campbell, an artist who spent much of his working life in Spain, predominate.
Adam’s director David Britton said that at the time of his death in 1979, Campbell “was probably the best-known artist to the general public” but in the decades since he has been “all but forgotten and neglected”. The exhibition, titled “George Campbell and the Belfast Boys” and curated by Karen Reihill who has produced a 160-page illustrated catalogue, is an attempt to restore Campbell’s reputation and that of his fellow artists.
Judge for yourself: the exhibition, which is free, runs at 26 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, until July 30th, and then moves to the Ava Gallery, Clandeboye Estate, Co Down, from August 6th to September 28th. Although the paintings are not for sale, some are likely to turn up at auction in the months and years ahead.
