Cecil Maguire RUA (b.1930)

The Irish landscape artist and figure painter Cecil Maguire was born in County Armagh and studied at Queen's University, Belfast, graduating in 1951. Afterwards he took up the post of English master at Lurgan College, painting and sketching in his spare time. Along the way he won the Royal Ulster Academy (RUA) Silver Medal (1964), the RUA Silver Medal (1967), the 1968 Conor Prize and the RUA Gold Medal in 1974. He became a member of the Royal Ulster Academy in 1974.

Turn of the Tide

In 1971, he began exhibiting at the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), and in 1981, he retired from teaching at Lurgan College to paint and travel full-time.

He now lives and works for most of the year in Roundstone, Connemara, County Galway, in the West of Ireland whose scenery and landscape has been a constant source of inspiration for his paintings, as indeed it was for many Irish artists including Paul Henry and Charles Lamb.

Winter Light. 1996

Maguire's artworks have also been shown at various solo exhibitions - including: Kenny Gallery, Galway (1970); Oriel Gallery, Dublin (1984); Bell Gallery, Belfast (1997) - and are represented in many public and private collections, such as: The National Self Portrait Collection, University of Limerick; Ulster Museum, Belfast; The United Nations Headquarters, New York; Department of the Environment, Northern Ireland; Queens University, Belfast; Aer Rianta, Dublin; The Haverty Trust; Provincial Bank of Ireland; Ulster Television plc; Peat Marwick McClintock.

More Information About Visual Arts in Ireland

• For details of other traditional painters, see: Irish Artists: Paintings and Biographies.
• For more about fine art in Ireland, see: Irish Art Guide.

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