Cecil Maquire was born in Lurgan and graduated from The Queen’s University, Belfast in 1951. He then took a post at Lurgan College as the Senior English Master.

In 1967 he became an associate of the Royal Ulster Academy. Maguire began exhibiting at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1971. From 1982 to 1992 he exhibited at the Oriel Gallery in Dublin in a series of solo exhibitions. In 1981 he retired from teaching at Lurgan College to concentrate on painting and travelling full-time.

He now lives and works for most of the year in the West of Ireland in Roundstone, Connemara where he feels very much at home in an area which has always been an inspiration for his work.

His work is held in many prestigious collections; The United Nations Headquarters, New York, Ulster Museum, Belfast and The UTV collection to name but a few.