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It is likely Dillon introduced Nano Reid to Campbell. Dillon and Campbell shared Reid’s
interest in the preservation of Celtic tradition in the form of monastic sites, especially
monuments in her native Drogheda. They exhibited together at the “Living Irish Art”
exhibition in the Leicester Galleries in 1946 and the IELA from 1947. The Campbell
brothers, O’Neill and Dillon were regular visitors to Nano Reid’s flat on Fitzwilliam Square.
Student Wolfgang Pappendeim, the sitter in ‘The Cosmopolitan’, became friendly with the
group when he lodged at Nano’s flat in the late 1940s while studying at Trinity College.
Reid later remarked that her move away from portraiture in the late 1940s was largely due to
Dillon, Campbell and O’Neill. Campbell, Reid and Dillon turned to the West of Ireland for
inspiration and often went on sketching trips together.
fig.45: Wolfgang Pappendein, Gerard Dillon, Tate
Adams, George Campbell and Paddy Walsh
fig.46: Nano Reid painting the sitter
Wolfgang Pappendeim.
Photo c/o Arthur Campbell; PRONI, D4122/B/124
fig.47: Nano Reid and George Campbell,
Photo; Arthur Campbell. PRONI D1422/B/124
fig.48: Nano Reid, portrait of George Campbell
in Campbell’s flat