Artists
Bingham McGuinness
Bingham McGuinness, landscape painter, was an apprentice to Dublin architect John S. Mulvany, RHA, the son of the landscape and figure painter, Thomas J. Mulvany, RHA (1779- 1845). During his apprenticeship he attended night- classes at the Royal Hibernian Academy and subsequently studied in Dusseldorf, Germany, specialising in the art of watercolours.
He first exhibited at the RHA in 1866 and over the following sixty years sent an average of three works per exhibition. In 1882 he became an ARHA and in 1884 a RHA. By then, apart from his Irish excursions, he had painted in England, Wales, Belgium and France. Subsequently he painted in Hamburg, Venice and Normandy. In 1888 he contributed Lough Cullen, Co. Mayo to the Irish Exhibition in London and in 1900 held a joint exhibition in Dublin with R.T. Moynan (1856- 1906). That same year The Studio commented on the Water Colour Society of Ireland exhibition in Dublin and declared that he deserved ‘more than a passing mention. He is one of the most distinguished as well as one of the most facile of our water- colour artists, and showed several landscapes in which the skies were beautifully luminous, the effect being obtained without any apparent effort’. In 1902 he exhibited at the Royal Academy and was represented in an exhibition of works by Irish artists at the Guildhall in 1904. He also exhibited in London with the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, in Liverpool at the Walker Art Gallery, and in Birmingham with the Royal Society of Artists. He was a committee member of the Water Colour Society of Ireland’.
A friend, J.B.Hall wrote..’his favourite theme, so to speak, was to be found in the old vistas of Continental cities. He considered him ‘a man of endearing qualities.He was of a singularly modest and retiring disposition, a kindly critic of others, and students of the Academy and amateurs ever found him a willing, ernest helper’.
He died, c.79 years old, in Dublin, in July 1928 having lived in London since about 1903.
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