Carr was born in
Belfast to a well-to-do family and attended
Oundle School where his art masters included
E.M.O'R. Dickey and
Christopher Perkins. In 1927 Carr moved to London where he studied under
Henry Tonks at the
Slade School of Art. After two years at the Slade, Carr moved to Italy and spent a year in
Settignano near
Florence. Upon returning to London, Carr established himself as a well-regarded painter of domestic scenes. Although essentially a realist painter, Carr was included in the 1934
Objective Abstractionists exhibition at
Zwemmer's Gallery. In 1937, Carr shared an exhibition with
Victor Pasmore and
Claude Rogers at the
Storran Gallery and subsequently became associated with the representational style of the Euston Road school. Starting in 1940, at
Wildenstein's gallery, Carr held a series of one-man exhibitions at various galleries including at the
Leicester Galleries, the
Redfern Gallery and also at
Agnew's. During the War, Carr received a small number of commissions from the
War Artists' Advisory Committee to depict parachute manufacture and the
Short Sunderland flying-boats being built at the
Short Brothers factory in Belfast. After the War, Carr taught at the
Belfast College of Art and moved to Belfast in 1955. After the death of his wife in 1995, Carr moved to Norfolk to be nearer one of his three daughters and her family. Carr continued to paint into old age, and tended to concentrate on landscape painting. Carr's work was among 49 artworks included in a selection of works from Ulster Artists hosted at the Leeds Playhouse Gallery in 1976.
Queen's University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1991. For his services to art in Northern Ireland, Carr was awarded the
MBE in 1974 and received an OBE in 1993. ==References==