Barry Williamson

Barry Williamson

Born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1943 Barry became fascinated with painting at an early age. He became interested in still life painting and while initially influenced by Dutch painting and the work of Henri Fantin Latour he was introduced to the trompe l’oeil paintings of William Michael Harnett and others working in the United States in the late 1880’s by a fellow artist from America who was living in his home town, called Jim Gola.

These still life paintings used everyday objects and his introduction to them came at a time when he was studying American history and collecting old American documents and paper money as a hobby. The two streams came together in a series of trompe l’oeil paintings with an American theme.

In 1961 he moved to work in Dublin and it was in this genre that he had his first one man show in 1966 in the Molesworth Gallery in Dublin. Later that year he exhibited in the Oireactas, the prestigious National Art Exhibition and in 1967 with the Royal Hibernian Academy.

Returning to his home in Belfast he exhibited with the Royal Ulster Academy in 1970 and had another one man show in the Piccolo gallery later that year.

Since that time work as an organisational psychologist and management
consultant in London has dominated, but now that he has returned to live in Ireland and reduced his client load he has more time to paint seriously once more.

His style has changed over the years but he paints for the sheer enjoyment of trying to capture the beauty of everyday objects that are around us all the time but that we so easily fail to notice.

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