George Collie

Collie, who had moved to Dublin with his family as a child, showed early artistic promise and attended the Metropolitan School of Art. He was awarded a prestigious Taylor Art Prize from the Royal Dublin Society for his painting The Midday Meal (NGI) in 1927, and another the following year. An artist of considerable skill and a prolific contributor to the Royal Hibernian Academy, he concentrated principally on portraiture at the expense of everyday urban subjects and still-lifes, of which he was also an accomplished exponent. His sitters included figures drawn from Ireland’s professional, diplomatic, political, clerical and military circles. He was also responsible for the mural in the Junior Chapel in Maynooth College. The NGI collection includes a portrait by Collie of the Director Thomas McGreevy.