James Humbert Craig RHA, 1877 – 1944

Born in Belfast in 1877, James Humberrt Craig was practically a self-taught artist. He worked for a period in his father’s tea merchant business before emigrating briefly to New York, where he worked for a period painting the Brooklyn Bridge. He returned home and set up a studio in Co Antrim, while beginning to paint in Donegal and Connemara. He first exhibited at the RHA in 1915 and was a constant exhibitor for the rest of his life showing 130 works. He was appointed associate RHA in 1925 and a full member in 1928. He was also a member of the Ulster Academy. He exhibited at the Belfast Art Society, at the Magee Gallery, at the Fine Art Society London, alongside Paul Henry, at the Royal Academy and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. In 1930, he exhibited in Brussels and in 1932, his work was included in the Olympic Art Exhibition in Los Angeles. He made various visits to the Continent, painting in Switzerland, Italy and the north of Spain. His work is included in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland, the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art and the Ulster Museum, together with many other important collections. He died in 1944, and a memorial exhibition of his work was held in Belfast in 1945 and at the Combridge Gallery on Grafton Street in 1946. He is one of the leading artists among the cohort of Northern painters, who were dominant in the Irish art world in the mid-20th Century, and a retrospective of his work was presented at the Ulster Museum in the year 2000.