I
rish
& I
nternational
A
rt
A
uction
M
onday
5
th
D
ecember
2016
at
6.00
pm
45
44 Colin Middleton RUA RHA (1910-1983) Girl Reading in the Bath (1947)signed on reverse
oil on canvas
51 x 76cm (20 x 30in)
Provenance:
Christie’s, London, Colin Middleton Studio Sale,1985, Lot 2;
Christie’s, London, 16th September 1992, Lot 173;
Private Collection
Exhibted:
Nicholas Gallery, Belfast (label verso)
Literature:
Colin Middleton, AMillennium Appreciation’ edited by Carlo Eastwood illustrated on page 42 & 43
€12,000-18,000 (£10,434-15,652)
Colin Middleton MBE an Irish artist and surrealist was born in 1910 in Belfast. He trained at Belfast College of Art and through
his influence of the work of Vincent van Gogh regarded himself as the only surrealist working in Ireland in the 1930s. Middleton’s
work first appeared at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1938 and he went on to have his first solo exhibition at the Grafton Gallery
in 1944. A damask-designer like his father before him, he now devoted himself to full-time painting. More exhibitions followed in
Dublin, London and Boston. In 1953, he moved to Bangor where he designed for the New Theatre; he also designed sets for the Cir-
cle Theatre and the Lyric Theatre. In 1954 Middleton exhibited alongside Daniel O’Neill at the Tooth Galleries in London and in the
same year 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. A poet and musician, Middleton also produced murals, mosaics and posters. In 1969, he was
awarded an MBE and appointed an associate at the Royal Hibernian Academy, with full membership in 1970. Amajor 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.