Born in Carrickfergus Co. Antrim in 1924, Arthur Armstrong studied art at Belfast College of Art, and also painted, in England, France and Spain. The influence of Cubism and the “School of Paris” is clearly evident in his work. Armstrong showed at the Grafton Gallery in Dublin in 1950, and over the next four decades, frequent exhibitions of his paintings were held, in Dublin and Belfaset mainly, but also in England, Spain and the United States. He won the Douglas Hyde Gold Medal at the 1968 Oireachteas. In 1969, working with George Campbell and Gerard Dillon, he created the settings for Juno and the Paycock at the Abbey Theatre. Although he lived in Dublin, Armstrong traveled and painted frequently in the West of Ireland, where the textures, colours and shapes of the landscapes of Connemara inspired some of his finest works. [Tom Kenny “Arthur Armstrong” obituary Galway Advertiser 18 January 1996]

While objects such as tables, chairs, vases and bottles are clearly identifiable in Armstrong´s work, the predominant sense of the finished paintings is of flat shapes and areas of colour and texture, arranged on the picture surface. The artist makes no attempt to suggest a three-dimensional world. He depicts still lives and landscapes as archteypes, rather than particular objects or places, and while remaining responsive to light and its effect in the landscape, his interest lies in building abstract compositions using primal shapes, colours and textures.