Tom Caldwell Gallery

The Belfast-based Furnishing Experts Ltd, founded in 1946, was, as its name suggests, a specialist supplier of furnishings to mainly the hotel, theatre and cinema trade. In 1954, the business was acquired by Tom Caldwell, and it soon changed course and aimed for the domestic market.

The eponymous [no-glossary]Tom Caldwell Gallery was founded in 1969 as part of the then larger, established furnishing business. Tom Caldwell (1921–2002) was, at the time, an interior designer and an Independent Unionist MP. A few years later, in 1974, Caldwell opened in Dublin and for many years was the only art establishment to operate on both sides of the Irish border. The Dublin gallery eventually closed in the 1990's as the Belfast business expanded at its original site. Following Tom Caldwell’s death, the gallery continued under the management of his children, Chris Caldwell and Celia McMorran. Artists who have exhibited include Gerard Dillon, Tom Carr, Dan O'Neill, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Nevill Johnson, Patrick Collins, Basil Blackshaw, Barbara Rae, Neil Shawcross and Colin Middleton.