Art on a Postcard Winter Auction, Lots 401-520

About

Colin Davidson is a contemporary artist, living and working near Belfast, Northern Ireland. Since graduating in 1991 from the University of Ulster with a first-class honours degree, he has structured his practice in themes, and since 2010 his focus has been on painting grand scale portraits, which have won widespread recognition and many international awards. As well as numerous commissions, Davidson’s portrait sitters have included Brad Pitt, Ed Sheeran, Liam Neeson, Brian Friel, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Christy Moore, Dame Mary Peters, Gary Lightbody, Marketa Irglova, Glen Hansard, Mark Knopfler and Seamus Heaney. His work is held in many public and corporate collections worldwide, including Queen’s University Belfast, the Ulster Museum (Belfast), Standard Life (London), the National Gallery of Ireland (Dublin), the Standard Chartered Bank of Asia, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (Washington DC) and the National Portrait Gallery, (London). 

Davidson’s recent exhibition of portrait paintings, entitled ‘Silent Testimony’, reveals the stories of eighteen people who are connected by their individual experiences of loss through the Troubles - a turbulent 30-year period in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s onwards. This critically acclaimed body of work was on show at the Ulster Museum Belfast during 2015, before embarking on a tour which included the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris, Dublin Castle and the United Nations NYC. In December 2015 he was commissioned by TIME Magazine to paint the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, for the cover for its ‘Person of the Year’ issue. 

In 2016 Colin Davidson was invited to paint an official portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II, which was unveiled later that year by The Queen in London. In 2019 his official portrait of President Bill Clinton was unveiled by the Past President in New York and in 2020 his portrait of Irish President Michael D Higgins was unveiled in Dublin.

Education

1987-91 First Class Honours Degree in Design, University of Ulster, Belfast

2003 Elected Associate, Royal Ulster Academy of Arts

2006 Elected Academician, Royal Ulster Academy of Arts

2012-15 President, Royal Ulster Academy of Arts

2016 Honorary Degree (DSSc for distinction in art), Queen’s University Belfast

2017 Elected Honorary Member Royal Society of Ulster Architects

2021 Appointed Chancellor of Ulster University

Select Exhibitions/Awards

Exhibitions

2021 Silent Testimony, Ulster Museum, Belfast

2019 Silent Testimony, National Memorial Arboretum, UK

2019 Ed Sheeran - Portraits by Colin Davidson, Ipswich

2018 Silent Testimony, United Nations Headquarters, New York

2018 Silent Testimony, Nerve Visual, Derry

2017 Silent Testimony, Dublin Castle, Dublin

2017 Jerusalem, Fitzroy Square, London

2017 Jerusalem, 92nd Street Y, New York

2016 Reflected Gleams, Irish Arts Center, New York

2016 Silent Testimony, Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris

2015-16 Silent Testimony, Ulster Museum, Belfast

2013 Between The Words, Naughton Gallery, Queen’s University

2011 Lyric Theatre, Belfast (ongoing)

2009 Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast

2007 Window Shopping, Solomon Gallery, Dublin

2006 Inside/Out, Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast

2005 Solomon Gallery, Dublin

2004 Gallery Revel, New York. No Continuing City, Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast

2003 Solomon Gallery, Dublin

2002 Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast

2001 Gallery Revel, New York

Solomon Gallery, Dublin

2000 Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast

1999 Solomon Gallery, Dublin

1998 Straid Gallery, Co Antrim

1997 Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast

1993 BBC Belfast

Awards 

2019 Fergus Ahern Award, Boyle

2015 US/Ireland Alliance Oscar Wilde Award, Los Angeles

2012 Ulster University Distinguished Graduate of the Year Award, Belfast. BP Portrait Visitors’ Choice Award, National Portrait Gallery, London

2011 Royal Ulster Academy, Gold Medal, Belfast

2010 Royal Hibernian Academy, The Ireland - US Council and Irish Arts Review Portraiture Award, Dublin. Royal Ulster Academy, Gold Medal, Belfast

2009 Royal Hibernian Academy, Keating/McLoughlin Medal, Dublin

2007 Royal Ulster Academy, Caldwell Prize for Drawing, Belfast

2004 Royal Ulster Academy, Gold Medal, Belfast

2002 Royal Ulster Academy, Silver Medal, Belfast

2001 Royal Ulster Academy, Conor Prize, Belfast

1997 Royal Ulster Academy, Silver Medal, Belfast

1994 Communication Arts Award, California. ICAD Craft Award, Dublin. Association of Illustrators, London. Winsor & Newton Gold Award, London. Creative Review Award, London

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