Belinda Loftus is an artist and writer based in Co Down. She was involved in Joseph Beuys’ Free International University display at the Documenta 5 exhibition in 1977, and her work was shown at the Whitechapel Art Gallery and the Ulster Museum. She then focused on her work as an art historical researcher and author, museum and exhibition curator, local government arts officer and freelance management consultant, only resuming her artwork in 2003.
When I started writing about the visual arts in Ireland, in the early 1980’s, there were very few major writers on Irish art. There was no shortage of art reviews, though many of them were perfunctory and untrustworthy. In terms of art history, you had Bruce Arnold’s Concise History of Irish Art, memorably dismissed by artist and academic Noel Sheridan as ‘pap’, along with tomes by various middle-to-upper-class individuals, many of which reeked of outdated class attitudes, along with a disinclination in the direction of thoroughness. There were a number of striking exceptions, most of them women, and most of them unlauded.
One such is the remarkable Belinda Loftus who had impeccable credentials.
Her Fine Art degree was from Cambridge University which she then followed by working first at the Paul Mellon Foundation for British Art, and then at The Imperial War Museum, before coming over to Northern Ireland in 1975. To use the cliché, she hit the ground running, being co-founder of the influential Art and Research Exchange (ARE) in 1977, and of the Integrated Primary School in Newcastle in 1986. When I first collaborated with her, she was the highly effective – and never bettered – Arts Officer with Down District Council.
(l-r) covers of Loftus's 'Mirrors' books; Loftus in 2018
In her earlier years she published First World War Posters, and Second World War Posters, both with J.C. Darracott. In the North she produced the excellent Marching Workers (1978), which was an examination of Irish Trade Union banners and regalia. In 1982 Keele University awarded her a Ph. D for research into the political imagery generated by the Troubles.
This was followed by two key, and highly important works, Mirrors: King William and Mother Ireland, and Mirrors: Orange & Green.
The former was a richly detailed exploration of the imagery that can still be seen on gable ends, posters, paintings, prints and in the media; the latter did a similar job of exploring the symbols of the two main political parties in relation to The Troubles. Copiously illustrated, copiously footnoted, these were major publications, the product of much original, detailed research.
Specialists know of these books but, even though they are highly readable, they do not have common currency, perhaps because they were published by a tiny Northern Irish publisher in small editions. But make no mistake: they are a major contribution to Irish art history, and indeed to the sociology of the North.
Brian McAvera, March 2025
Thanks to the McAvera & Walker Library, we have copies of Loftus’s books in the NI Visual Art Research Library & Archive at the Golden Thread Gallery. NIVARLA will launch formally in the Spring, and items in the rare and special collection will be available to view by appointment. We will share more information on how to access and use NIVARLA soon!
The Northern Ireland Visual Art Research Library & Archive is supported by the Ampersand Foundation, with many books and archive items donated and on loan from the McAvera & Walker Library.
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