George Galway MacCann ARCA

Other names: Surname also spelt McCann

Born 14 February 1909
Died 1967

Active: 1926 - 1967

Country of birth and death: Northern Ireland

Sculptor, teacher, writer, illustrator

Born in Belfast. He was the son of the monumental sculptor, David McCann (See G. & D. McCann and George McCann). George Galway studied at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution (1920-6) and then at Belfast College of Art (1926-9) and the Royal College of Art, London (1929-32). From 1932-37 he taught at the Royal School Armagh and Portadown College and then became a lecturer in sculpture at Belfast College of Art (1937-39). In 1939 he enlisted in the the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and he was replaced by John Knox. After the Second World War, MacCann returned to teaching and worked at Sullivan Upper School, Holywood, Co. Down (1946).

MacCann was influenced by the work of Henry Moore, Eric Gill and Jacob Epstein all of whom he met whilst studying at Royal College of Art, London. Later in the 1930s he introduced the sculptor F.E. McWilliam to Henry Moore.

His first exhibition took place in Belfast in November 1933 with the painters William Conor, Margaret Yeames and the sculptor Joy McKean. MacCann's public commissions included a carved relief for Avoniel Primary School, Belfast (1935) and a Virgin and Child in Cuban mahogany for the Dominican Monastery, Falls Road, Belfast. In 1951 he was commissioned by CEMA to carve two stone panels for the Guildhall in Derry and a mural at Castlereagh for the Festival of Britain (a second one at London South Bank was reported but is unconfirmed). MacCann also executed a mural for the Royal School, Armagh (now destroyed). He created sculpture for the Northern Ireland stand for the British Industries Fair in 1954, held a one man exhibition in Belfast (1965) and was celebrated in a post-posthumous exhibition of sixty works at Queen’s University Belfast (1968). MacCann's other achievements include a book of stories and illustrations entitled ‘Sparrows round my brow’ (1942).

Citing this record

'George Galway MacCann ARCA', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib4_1244144433, accessed 20 Mar 2023]