36 / 170
36
In the early 1940s, James White met Dillon and Campbell, but he did not encounter
O’Neill until 1961. He commented on O’Neill and Dillon’s work in the Introduction essay
for ‘Twelve Contemporary Irish Artists’,
51
Stockholm, 1952, and wrote the foreword in
Campbell and Dillon’s joint exhibition at the Piccadilly Gallery, 1955. He was the author
of
George Campbell RHA
,
52
and after Dillon’s death in 1971, was author of
Gerard Dillon:
An Illustrated Biography
, 1994. An advocate for modern art, White went on to become a key
figure in the Irish art world, as a critic and in his position as Curator of the Municipal Gallery
and later as the Director of the National Gallery of Ireland.
It is not clear why Campbell wasn’t associated with the avant-garde White Stag group
53
during
the War. Known for their eccentricity and bohemian lifestyle, several Irish artists exhibited
with the group in Baggot Street. Nor did he exhibit at the Contemporary Picture Galleries,
54
the first Gallery in Dublin to show avant-garde paintings. Confessing he knew nothing about
painting until he met Dillon in 1943
55
may have been the reason. He did, however, exhibit at
the Oireachtas from 1946 and at the Royal Hibernian Academy from 1949.
51
The Cultural Relations Committee (CRC) organized the exhibition.
52
This was a booklet published in 1966 by Three Candles Press, where his friend Paddy Walsh was employed
before he set up Walsh Studios in the late 1960s.
53
Founded in London in 1935, the group led by Basil Rácóczi and Kenneth Hall moved to Dublin in 1939. Their
first exhibition took place in 134 Baggot Street, April 1940.
54
Deirdre McDonagh and Jack Longford established the gallery in 1938. It closed in 1948
55
BBC Triptych, 1979
fig.49: George Campbell with his mural in
Nano Reid’s flat, Fitzwilliam Square, 1948
fig.50:‘George Campbell RHA’, (1966)
with introduction by James White
fig.51: James White
fig.52: Exhibition catalogue for ‘Twelve
Contemporary Irish Artists, ’Sweden, 1952