King, Cecil (1921–1986)

Irish painter, printmaker, designer, and art collector. Although he was a late starter in art, King became recognized as one of Ireland's leading abstract painters.

Born in Rathdrum, County Wicklow, King initially pursued a career in business, and his success enabled him to build an impressive collection of paintings, including many Irish works. In the early 1950s, he turned his own hand to painting, in which he was mainly self-taught. He had his first solo exhibition in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, in 1959, and he became a full-time artist in 1964, at the age of 43. By this time he had moved from representational works to abstracts. Initially, his abstracts were exuberant, with suggestions of natural forms, but by the late 1960s he had developed a cool, hard-edged style.