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144
Campbell made his final trip to Spain in 1977 for his joint exhibition with Armstrong at
the Galería Kreisler, Madrid. He didn’t travel the following year as he had agreed to accept
the honour of becoming a Knight Commander of Spain at the Spanish Embassy in Dublin
and his house in Laragh was close to completion. His final group show with Eric Patton and
Armstrong took place Dusseldorf, Germany, April 1979.
On a Friday morning, 18 May 1979, Campbell complained of a terrible headache and
Madge advised him to lie down. In his bedroom, he suddenly collapsed on the floor and died
from a brain haemorrhage. The funeral took place on Monday, 21 May in Laragh, on a quiet
tree-lined hill overlooking Glendalough. The funeral was attended by artists who were close
friends, journalists and others from all over Ireland who knew him.
After George’s death, Arthur Campbell retired from Charles Hurst Motors Ltd to concentrate
on being a full-time painter. He was able to attend his brother’s Retrospective exhibition held
in Droichead Arts Centre Drogheda, 1992, before he died in 1994.
Following the studio sale of Arthur Armstrong’s work, one critic noted that the quality of
Arthur Armstrong’s work suffered after the death of his mentors, Dillon and Campbell, who
‘both died prematurely in the 1970s and in the opinion of some people who knew Armstrong,
he never fully recovered from their loss’.
207
Madge Campbell, the group’s protector, regularly
visited him. He died in 1996, following an illness, and his ashes were scattered on the beach
at Dogs Bay, Roundstone.
207
Brian Fallon, ‘An Arthur Armstrong Surprise’,
The Irish Times
, 3 February 1998.
fig.239: Arthur Armstrong
and George Campbell
framing their paintings for
the Keisler Gallery, 1977
fig.240: Arthur Campbell with
his cat.
Photo; PRONI, D4122/B/34
fig.238: George Campbell