New exhibition launched in Carrickfergus celebrates local artist

A new exhibition has opened at Carrickfergus Museum entitled ‘Arthur Armstrong: A Centenary Exhibition: Celebrating A Carrickfergus-born Artist’ showcasing over 30 paintings by the distinguished artist.

Arthur Armstrong was born in January 1924 at Minorca Place in Carrickfergus and was said to have been an enthusiastic sketcher by the age of four. He went on to become one of the leading painters of his generation. Although he came late to art as a career – having originally started training as an architect – Armstrong found early recognition and was soon part of the group around Gerard Dillon and George Campbell. He was also very active within Belfast art circles in the post-war period.

Armstrong’s early paintings explore the realities of life in wartime and post-war Belfast. His style reveals an understanding of the abstract principle of Cubism which can be seen in his landscapes and figure compositions of the 1960s – during which time he was considered as one of the best living Irish painters.

Today his work is in collections including National Museums Northern Ireland, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Malaga Museum of Fine Arts and Limerick Municipal Art Gallery.

This exhibition will bring paintings from the museum’s collection together with a substantial number from private collections to create the first notable exhibition of Armstrong’s work since an Arts Council of Northern Ireland retrospective in 1980.

Attending the event was Councillor Bethany Ferris, who said: “Council is delighted to showcase this extensive collection of works from renowned artist Arthur Armstrong. We are very fortunate to have two of his paintings as part of the Carrickfergus Museum collection. To view them in a wider context – displayed with thirty of his other paintings from private collections – is a privilege and we look forward to welcoming visitors to the exhibition.”

Suzanne Lyle, Head of Visual Arts at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, adds: “Two of the works in this exhibition were gifted to Carrickfergus Museum by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in 2012 and it is wonderful to see them as part of this exhibition.  They are set in the context of his wider work and I hope that they, amongst the other thirty works in this exhibition, give you a sense of the artist’s interests in the span of his life.”

A number of art workshops designed to explore the techniques of Armstrong, with Whitehead Artist Steve Diamond, are scheduled for the New Year. The exhibition will be on display until 1 March 2025.