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ART ON-LINE 3 APRIL 2017 39
74
George Galway MacCann ARCA (1909-1967)
CONSTRUCTION ON A KITCHEN DOOR
oil and collage elements on panel
signed lower right; inscribed on reverse
16½ x 23in. (41.91 x 58.42cm)
Provenance:
Collection of George and Maura McClelland
George Galway MacCann, was a sculptor,
muralist and stage designer born in Belfast
to David, a monumental sculptor and his
wife Elizabeth. He studied at the Royal Belfast
Academical Institution from 1920-26 and at
the Belfast school of Art under Seamus Stoupe
1926-29, where he met fellow art student and
his future wife Mercy Hunter. In 1929 he won a
major scholarship to the Royal College of Art,
London. He was awarded a prize for sculpture
in 1932, on the recommendation of his lecturer,
Henry Moore. On his return to Belfast MacCann
exhibited at a show of sculpture and painting
with William Coonor, Margaret Yeames and
Joy McKean in November 1933. The following
year MacCann and Yeames joined with members of the recently formed Northern Ireland Guild of Artists,
including Elisabeth Clements, Colin Middleton, John Luke and Romeo Toogood, and established the
Ulster Unit. At the Unit’s only exhibition, in November 1934, MacCann showed abstracted paintings and
two stone sculptures that illustrated the influence of his teacher Henry Moore. MacCann received his first
public commission, a carved panel for above the entrance of Avoniel Primary School, in 1935. While living
in County Armagh he worked as an art teacher at the Royal School Armagh and Portadown College,
and from 1938-39 he was head of sculpture at the Belfast School of Art. During WWII MacCann served
in Burma as a captain in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. During the 1940s, MacCann was depicted in his
Inniskilling uniform by Sydney Smith - a painting now in the collection of the Armagh County Museum.
From 1946 MacCann taught at Sullivan Upper School, Holywood. In the 1950s MacCann garnered several
commissions and was represented at CEMA’s exhibition of sculpture at the Belfast Museum and Art
Gallery in 1953 where his work was shown alongside Henry Moore, Lynn Chadwick, Barbara Hepworth,
Jacob Epstein and Uli Nimptsch. MacCann and Mercy Hunter were well known and highly regarded in
Belfast’s art and literary circles. They collaborated on costume designs for the Patricia Mulholland Irish
Ballet and some of these designs can be found in the Grand Opera House, Belfast. A solo show of his work
was held at the New Gallery, Belfast in 1963 and he also exhibited at the IELA in Dublin. In 1964 he was
elected associate of the Royal Ulster Academy. A memorial exhibition was arranged by the Arts Council of
Northern Ireland at Queen’s University in 1968. For further reading see Snoddy, p.364-365
Estimate €400-€600 (approx £348-£522)
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