Richard Croft

Painter and Printmaker Richard Croft was born in 1935 in London.  Richard studied at Bromley College of Art 1951-55 and Brighton College of Art 1957-58.  He came to Belfast in 1959 to teach pottery in Dunlambert School, Fortwilliam and then succeeded Wilfred Stewart as Head of Art at Annadale Grammer school.

In 1966 he won a commended prize in the Gallagher Portrait Competition and was then elected a Royal Ulster Academician in 1967 and was President of the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts (R.U.A.) in 1997–2000. He is a founder member of Group 63 and the Octagon Gallery Belfast.  

His many one person shows include the Picolo Gallery in 1960, the C.E.M.A. and N.I. Arts Council Galleries during the 1960s and 70s. Solo shows also include Oxford University, Queen’s University Belfast, The Davis Gallery Dublin and a number of shows in the Caldwell Galleries in Belfast, the Cavehill Gallery and the Engine Room Gallery in Belfast.

He had a touring retrospective exhibition which started in 2003 in the Naughton Gallery at Queen’s University Belfast and visited Lisburn, Downpatrick Art’s Centres and Armagh Museum.  His work has been in numerous group shows including the R.U.A. and Royal Hibernian Academy (R.H.A.) annual exhibitions and the Irish Living Art exhibitions in the 60’s and 70’s.  He was also represented in the Still Life show at the Albermarle Gallery London 1988 and the Thackery Gallery London in 1980.

His work is included in many collections, both public and private, including the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Collection, the National Self-portrait collection at Limerick University, the Government of Northern Ireland Collection, The Irish Embassy in Beijing, the Northern Bank, Belfast Education and Library Board, Downe Museum, Ulster Television, London University, Oxford University and the Queen's University of Belfast.  

Now retired from teaching, Croft works from his own Print Workshop and Studio. He describes his method of painting as “funambulism or tightrope walking”, Croft switches between abstraction and realism.