Adams Summer Loan Exhibition - George Campbell And The Belfat Boys 7th July - 3rd September 2015

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The reason Dillon didn’t get a contract from Waddington until some time later was probably
due to his naïve images not being attractive to buyers in the mid-1940’s. In a letter to
John Hewitt, Dillon referred to the success of O’Neill’s and Campbell’s solo shows with
Waddington: ‘I don’t expect I could be so successful if I had one. I doubt Waddington would
give me a showing anyway.’48
Coinciding with the Belfast Boys exhibitions at Waddington’s, CEMA was an important
outlet for the artists.49 In 1944, CEMA organized a show titled ‘1944/45Works by Some Irish
Artists’. Work by O’Neill, Dillon, Campbell and Colin Middleton were included. CEMA
held solo shows for Dillon in 1946, O’Neill in 1947 and Campbell in 1949. Waddington
held solo shows for O’Neill (1945), Campbell (1946) and Dillon (1950).
In 1944, the Campbell brothers established the ‘Progressive Painters Group’. The group
included Daniel O’Neill, John Turner50 and Gerard Dillon. They exhibited in several galleries
together – CEMA, the Mol gallery and the John Magee Galleries. Dillon and Campbell held
their first joint show together at the John Lamb Gallery in Portadown, June 1944. Two
works from Conlig and the Boyne area by Dillon suggest he had been on sketching trips with
O’Neill in Co. Down and Nano Reid in Drogheda.
48Letter from Gerard Dillon to John Hewitt, undated.
49Campbell’s exhibition in February 1952 was seen by 1,476 people, while O’Neill’s exhibition, shown at the
Belfast Art Gallery, March/April attracted 4,168 visitors. CEMA Annual Report, 1951–52, p. 8.
50John Turner became friendly with the group on his return to Belfast in 1941.
fig.41: Catalogue of George Campbell and
Gerard Dillon’s joint exhibition, 1944
fig.42: George Campbell and Gerard Dillon
viewing John Turner’s, ‘View in Castlerock’
opposite, at CEMA’s exhibition, Belfast 1944
fig.43: Catalogue of AIA (Northern Ireland)
‘Exhibition of paintings,’ 1947, James MacIntyre,
Thomas McCreanor, and Arthur Armstrong
fig.44: Banner for George and Arthur Campbell’s
first joint show, 1944