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George Gillespie (1924-1995)
George Kennedy Gillespie was born in Belfast in 1924 he was educated from 1941 until 1945 at Belfast High School and attended evening classes at Belfast College of Art, studying jewellery, silversmith as well as painting. His interest in fine art was encouraged in the late 1950’s when he attended painting classes in the studio of R. Boyd Morrison in Hollywood, Co. Down.
In his early fifties a heart attack prompted Gillespie to give up his business career and concentrate on painting full-time working from his studio at home in Newtownards, Co Down. He held his first solo-exhibition in 1980 in Dublin at the Oriel Gallery Dublin. His paintings are inspired by his love of the Irish landscape most notably Donegal and the rugged scenery of Connemara and the west coast of Ireland. George Gillespie’s work represents the culmination of a notable lineage of Ulster painters who have all been chiefly concerned with depicting the Irish landscape
His work is part of collections at the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland and the office of Public Works in Dublin.
George Gillespie Artist
