George Galway MacCann
Sculptures
“Mr. McCann’s sculpture is on the lines of Henry Moore, who is at the moment holding a most successful exhibition in London. As a sculptor he aims at abstracting the essential elements in a subject, and expressing them in a variety of materials. His work may be said to display, for the first time in this province, an attempted solution of contemporary problems. It is almost all of the revolutionary type.”
Belfast Newsletter, November 1933
“It must always be a matter of regret that in his latter years he turned seldom to sculpture; the very few public commissions he executed show him to have been a virile sculptor with a powerful plastic sense. The strong angel on Avoniel Primary School is his; so too are the relief carvings of The Four Just Men and of St. Columba commissioned by the Festival of Britain Committee in 1951 and housed in the porch of the Guildhall in Derry.”
Kenneth Jamison, Arts Council of Northern Ireland
“Mr. George MacCann’s work is arousing much controversy. Looked at the angles of form, the sculpture has decided beauty, and the craftsmanship is always superb. It is to be doubted , however, whether he has succeeded in producing works of unique forcefulness. In many ways his drawings are more vigorous than his sculptures and are more impressive. The Head of Mercy Hunter is the most satisfying. There is something incomplete, and unfinished in the sculptures despite the excellence of their craftsmanship, but they do have that essential quality of sculpture – strength.”
Irish News, November 1933