Gladys Maccabe (artist)
Encyclopedia
Early life
Gladys Maccabe was born in RandalstownRandalstown
Randalstown is a small town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, located between the towns of Antrim and Toome. It had a population of 4,956 people in the 2001 Census. It has a very prominent disused railway viaduct and lies beside Lough Neagh and the Shane's Castle estate...
, County Antrim
County Antrim
County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...
. Her mother Elizabeth was a designer in the linen business, and her father George Chalmers, a Scot, was a former army officer and artist specialising in calligraphy and illumination. One of her ancestors was a famous 18th century Scottish painter, Sir George Chalmers.
She had a picture published in the Royal Drawing Society
Royal Drawing Society
The Royal Drawing Society was founded in 1888 in Great Britain and Ireland, with the aim of teaching drawing for educational reasons.The methods of instruction were based on the idea that very young children attempt to draw before they can write. They have very astute perception and retentive memory...
's magazine when she was 16 years old and went on to study at the Belfast College of Art. In 1941 she married fellow artist and musician Max Maccabe (who died in 2000). Gladys and Max exhibited together on many occasions, starting in Ireland at Robinson & Cleaver in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, 1942, and in England at the Kensington Art Gallery in 1949.
Gladys and Max were members of the group of artists known as The Contemporary Ulster Group, which included Dan O'Neill, George Campbell, and Gerard Dillon.
William Conor
William Conor
William Conor OBE was a Belfast, Northern Ireland born artist.Celebrated for his warm and sympathetic portrayals of working-class life in Ulster, William Conor studied at the Government School of Design in Belfast in the 1890s...
was also an associate and Gladys painted his portrait in 1957 (now hanging in the Ulster Folk Museum).
She formed the Ulster Society of Women Artists in 1957, as she felt that there was an untapped wealth of talent among the women artists of Northern Ireland. The Society's first major exhibition was in the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery in 1959.
During the 1960s Gladys was a fashion and arts correspondent working for newspapers and television. She was Northern Ireland Art Critic for the Irish Independent
Irish Independent
The Irish Independent is Ireland's largest-selling daily newspaper that is published in both compact and broadsheet formats. It is the flagship publication of Independent News & Media.-History:...
and the Irish News and wrote columns for the Sunday Independent
Sunday Independent
The Sunday Independent is a broadsheet Sunday newspaper published in Ireland by Independent News and Media plc. The newspaper is edited by Aengus Fanning, and is the biggest selling Irish Sunday newspaper by a large margin ; average circulation of 291,323 between June 2004 and January 2005,...
, Leasure Painter and the Ulster Tatler
Ulster Tatler
Ulster Tatler is a lifestyle and society magazine based in Northern Ireland which was founded in 1966.During the early years of The Troubles, it made of point of never making any comment on the political or social problems of the province; rather it reflected the high society and other social...
. She was also fashion correspondent for the Belfast News Letter and BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland is the main public service broadcaster in Northern Ireland.The organisation is one of the three national regions of the BBC, together with BBC Scotland and BBC Wales. Based at Broadcasting House, Belfast, it provides television, radio, online and interactive television content...
.
Work
Much of Gladys' work is concerned with the depiction of gatherings of people, whether at a race meetings, a fair or market, on the beach or in a shop. She has also painted o flowers and still life; and a variety of abstract works.During the height of "The Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
" in Northern Ireland in 1969, Gladys was moved to depict the scenes she saw around her at that time. In October 1969 four of her paintings were included in the annual exhibition of The Royal Institute of Oil Painters
Royal Institute of Oil Painters
The Royal Institute of Oil Painters, also known as ROI, is an association of painters in London and is the only major art society which features work done only in oil. It is a member society of the Federation of British Artists.-History:...
in London. These paintings were entitled Barricades, Blazing Warehouse, Petrol Bomb Sequel and Funeral of a Victim.
In 1989, a retrospective exhibition of her work was held at The George Gallery, Dublin. Entitled Gladys Maccabe, A Lifetime of Art, The Retrospective, the exhibition featured paintings dating from 1935–1989.She has also exhibited at the Paris Salon.
Examples of her work are in The Ulster Museum
Ulster Museum
The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasures from the Spanish Armada, local history, numismatics, industrial...
, The Royal Ulster Academy , The Arts Council of Ireland
Arts Council of Ireland
The Arts Council of Ireland was founded in 1951 by the Government of Ireland to encourage interest in Irish art and channel to funding from the state to Irish artists and arts organisations...
Collection, The Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. The museum was founded during the First World War in 1917 and intended as a record of the war effort and sacrifice of Britain and her Empire...
and many other permanent collections.
Awards
In 1961 Gladys was elected a Member of the Royal Institute of Oil PaintersRoyal Institute of Oil Painters
The Royal Institute of Oil Painters, also known as ROI, is an association of painters in London and is the only major art society which features work done only in oil. It is a member society of the Federation of British Artists.-History:...
; and in 1980 she was awarded an Honourary MA
MA
-In academia:*Master of Arts , a degree at the English-speaking universities; someone admitted to this degree*Marin Academy , a high school in San Rafael, California*Minnehaha Academy , a private high school in Minneapolis, Minnesota...
degree by the Queen's University Belfast. She is also a Honourary Academician of the Royal Ulster Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. The name Royal Society of Arts is frequently used for brevity...
, and has received many other accolades including the 1984 World Culture Prize.
Gladys was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to the arts by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on November 21, 2000.