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All artists contributed to the RHA: Dillon exhibited from 1943, O’Neill and Campbell
exhibited from 1947 and Armstrong from 1962. O’Neill ceased exhibiting at the RHA in
1963. From the late 1950s, Dillon was a sporadic exhibitor, as his abstract and sand paintings
were rejected by the Academy. He was, however, the only artist from the group to exhibit at
the inaugural exhibition of the Independent Artists in 1960.
In 1965, Armstrong designed stained-glass windows for the Convent Chapel in Bedford
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and was employed by RTE to do cover designs for the RTV Guide.
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A prolific painter, he
was influenced by Campbell and Dillon’s affinity with ancient sites, especially Glendalough,
Co. Wicklow. His observation of the area won him the Douglas Hyde gold medal in 1968 for
‘Gleann dá Loch’. In 1972, he became a full member of the RHA and in June the following
year, he won a prize from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI) for the ‘Art in
Context’ scheme, which led to a play sculpture for Belmont House School, Derry.
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In the
same year, he collaborated with Roy McFadden in a poster poem, ‘The House’, commissioned
from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
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Untraced.
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RTV later became RTE.
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An award of £500 was given to Armstrong on completion of the work. The sculpture no longer exists.
fig.178: RTV guide front cover
design by Arthur Armstrong
fig.179: Robert K.Gahan with
Arthur Armstrong displaying his
RTE Christmas card, 1991 from
the design for RTV guide, 1962
fig.180: RTV guide front cover
design by Arthur Armstrong
fig.181: Children playing in Arthur
Armstrong’s play sculpture, 1972
fig.182: Arthur Armstrong’s design for children’s play sculpture, 1972