RICHARD KINGSTON: Richard Kingston, who has died aged 80, enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a painter. He was one of the first Irish artists to fly the flag of American abstract expressionism and, in the 1950s, found himself at odds with an Irish modernism that combined the French tradition in painting with the nationalistic school of landscape.
His magnum opus resulted from a visit in 1982 to the Giant's Causeway, Co Antrim. Over the next 18 years he produced a series of oil paintings, watercolours and works on paper based on studies of the famous landmark. The causeway has been aptly described as a "remnant of chaos", and Richard Kingston set out to make compositions out of the chaos, at the same retaining the essence of the strange rock formations.
While the series marked a departure in thematic terms, it reflected a consistent attitude towards subject matter, showing clearly that he never took the world for granted. The Causeway exhibition at the RHA Gallery in 2001 clearly showed that he had fully realised his vision.
Richard Kingston was born on March 22nd, 1922, one of the five children of George Kingston and his wife Elizabeth (née Berry). His father, originally from Clonakilty, Co Cork, was a farmer who schooled horses and the family lived at Newcastle, Co Wicklow.
He was first drawn to the visual arts when as a child he delighted in decorating the farm machinery. Later he encountered a watercolourist, F.A. Ross, who was painting on the family's lands. She gave him lessons, materials and encouragement. Over 40 years after meeting her, he could still remember her exhortation: "Plenty of water now. Pretend the land is dying of thirst!"
The effects of the Economic War in the 1930s meant that his father could no longer afford to employ farm labour. Consequently, Richard Kingston was taken out of school and put to work on the farm. Despite the benefits of a free, open-air life and a good home, he was far from happy, finding "consolation and escape" in painting. He had to get away.
He decided to educate himself and within 18 months was accepted by the School of Engineering at Trinity College Dublin. He quickly adapted to the "brighter lights, smart girls and hellishly noisy trams that seemed to run everywhere around Dublin."
On the way to his "digs" in Rathmines one night, he met the painter Harry Kernoff who had had "a few too many" and needed assistance in getting home. Richard Kingston escorted the older man to his house in Stamer Street where Kernoff showed him his drawings and paintings. "He was totally unselfish with his knowledge, and my subsequent visits to his studio were an invaluable start to a self-taught career."
Due to family circumstances, Richard Kingston was unable to complete his studies at TCD. When the second World War ended, he went to London, working in "all sorts of jobs". Having built up a respectable portfolio of drawings and watercolours, he was employed by a grammar school to teach art and mathematics. He later had the good fortune to meet the art critic and writer, John Berger, who advised him that he should paint in oils and provided him with some boards to paint on.
He returned to Dublin in the late 1950s and worked for the Swastika Laundry; as part of his brief he developed the company's corporate image. His first solo exhibition of paintings, which was held in the Hendriks Gallery in September 1958, prompted The Irish Times's art critic to comment: "The flash of his primary colours is no flash in the pan, yet one wonders if he has not been dazzled by his own eloquence". However, another critic found evidence of a "dynamic and challenging talent, firmly built on a foundation of good craftsmanship and a sensitive use of colour".
He exhibited with the Irish Exhibition of Living Art, making a name for himself along with George Campbell, Patrick Collins, Gerard Dillon and Patrick Scott. He showed in London and represented Ireland at international exhibitions, among them the Guggenheim International Award Exhibition and the Salzburg Biennial Exhibition of Sacred Art.
He became a full-time artist in the mid-1960s and began to exhibit with the Royal Hibernian Academy. In the 1970s he opened the Wellington Gallery to house a permanent display of his work.
Richard Kingston was elected to membership of the RHA in 1980 and served as a governor of the National Gallery of Ireland from 1982 to 1989. His interests included film-making and photography, while he enjoyed rebuilding classic vintage cars and restoring antiques.
He is survived by his wife, Jennifer (née Fitzsimons), daughter, Cyane, sons, Richard and Steven, sisters, Mary and Dorothy, and brother, Robert.