Reg Campbell was a self-taught painter specialising in landscapes and portraits. Having grown up in Sydney and served in New Guinea during World War 2, he moved to Bathurst to work as a signwriter. In time, he moved to Sunny Corner, via Rydal, and established a gallery, where he painted hundreds of competent conventional landscapes and flower pieces. He was a Wynne finalist eight times, and twenty-five times an Archibald finalist between 1952 and 1990, his Archibald subjects including Don Bradman, Bob Dyer, Norm Provan, John Laws and Evonne Goolagong. He made scores of portraits on commission, his biography stating that he painted ‘approximately 100 knights of the realm’ and nine bishops and archbishops. In 1990 he won the Archibald People’s Choice Award at the Archibald with a self-portrait.
