Statement from President Higgins on the death of Cecil Maguire
Date: Tue 12th May, 2020 | 22:39
“I have heard with sadness of the passing of well-known landscape artist Cecil Maguire, whom I had the privilege of knowing for many decades.
I remember encountering his work for the first time at the Kenny Art Gallery in Galway City, and his painting “Clifden Fair, Winter” was the first painting I bought, from my first salary at University College Galway. That painting was much loved, and one all my children grew up with.
Cecil Maguire’s work, oil on board, captured images of the west coast of Ireland in a quite wonderful way.
Much of his work was based on the coast of the west of Ireland, particularly the stretch from Ballyconneely to Roundstone. This is the part of his work that first interested me, but all of his work, on any part of Ireland including his native North, was distinctive, in a brilliant use of oils and images.
He had a lovely warm personality, which I had the experience of encountering many times, including last summer in Roundstone.
He will be missed by his family, his many friends and admirers.”