Colin Middleton

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Colin Middleton MBE, ARHA, HRUA (29 January 1910 – 23 December 1983) was an Irish artist and surrealist.[1]

Biography[]

Middleton was born in 1910 in Victoria Gardens, in north Belfast.[1] He attended the nearby Belfast Royal Academy until 1927 and then continued his studies at Belfast College of Art where he trained as a damask designer.[2]

Career[]

His work first appeared at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1938. His first solo exhibition was at the Grafton Gallery in London in 1944. In 1947 Middleton retired from the family business where he had worked since his Father's death in 1935, to devote himself to painting.[2] More exhibitions followed in Dublin, London and Boston. He was heavily influenced by the work of Vincent van Gogh. He regarded himself as the only surrealist working in Ireland in the 1930s.

In 1953, he moved to Bangor where he designed for the New Theatre; he also designed sets for the Circle Theatre and the Lyric Theatre. In 1952 he exhibited alongside Daniel O'Neill, Nevill Johnson, Gerard Dillon and Thurloe Connolly at the Tooth Galleries in London.[2] In 1954, he started his career as an art teacher at the Belfast College of Art and at Coleraine Technical School, eventually becoming head of art at Friends' School, Lisburn. The 'Dublin Magazine' at this time said of him: 'Apart from the brilliance of his paint, he has one rare quality in his inexhaustible capacity for wonder'. A poet and musician, Middleton also produced murals, mosaics and posters.

Colin Middleton died in hospital in December 1983. He was survived by his wife Kate and their daughter.[3] Middleton's works can be seen in many public collections including the Ulster Museum, Irish Museum of Modern Art, and the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery.[2]

Awards[]

He won the Royal Dublin Society's Taylor Scholarship in 1932.[2] In 1969, he was appointed MBE and also appointed an associate at the Royal Hibernian Academy, with full membership following in 1970.[3] A major retrospective was held in 1976 at The Ulster Museum and the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art in Dublin. He continued to exhibit at the RHA in Dublin until his death in 1983 in Belfast.

Critical Biography

  • John Hewitt, Colin Middleton (Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, 1976)

See also[]

  • List of Northern Irish artists

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Colin Middleton". Culture Northern Ireland. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Irish Art Prices No. 33 Colin Middleton". Irish Independent. 12 June 1999. p. 38. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "Artist Colin Middleton dies at 74". Belfast Telegraph. 23 December 1983. p. 4. Retrieved 30 August 2021.

External links[]

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