twelve Royal Academicians in Edinburgh
Norman Ackroyd Gillian Ayres Elizabeth Blackadder Maurice Cockrill Eileen Cooper Fred Cuming Mary Fedden Ken Howard John Hoyland (1934-2011) Bryan Kneale David Mach Chris Orr
twelve Royal Academicians in Edinburgh 7-31 march 2012
The Scottish Gallery 16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ Tel 0131 558 1200 Email mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk www.scottish-gallery.co.uk
FOREWORD I am delighted The Scottish Gallery are mounting this exhibition of twelve remarkable artists covering the art of painting, printmaking, drawing and sculpture. The link between this diverse group of artists is they have all been elected Royal Academicians. Becoming a member of the RA is to be included in a very eminent group of practising painters, sculptors, architects and printmakers who govern the running of the RA. When The Royal Academy of Arts was founded by George III in 1768 its purpose was to promote ‘the art of design’ in Britain through education and exhibition. It is an independent, privately funded institution receiving its funding through exhibitions, trusts and endowments. Originally there were only 34 RA’s allowing for a maximum of 40. The first President of the RA was Sir Joshua Reynolds. In 1853 the RA increased its membership to 42, allowing engravers to become RA’s. In 1972 the limit was increased again to 50 and in 1991 it was raised to its present day limit of 80 RA’s. Of the 80 members, 14 must be Sculptors, 12 Architects, 8 Printmakers and 46 Painters. To be considered for RA status one has to be elected by existing Royal Academicians and be professionally active. The members govern the running of this remarkable institution which is not only known for the annual ‘Summer Exhibition’ but also as a venue for some of the finest exhibitions in the world. It is also the home of the RA Schools which are the oldest in Britain and run the only three year postgraduate course in the UK. Free tuition is given to its students. I would like to thank Norman Ackroyd, Gillian Ayres, Elizabeth Blackadder, Maurice Cockrill, Eileen Cooper, Fred Cuming, Mary Fedden, Ken Howard, the late John Hoyland, Bryan Kneale, David Mach, and Chris Orr for agreeing to exhibit and their galleries for supplying additional photography and information. I would also like to thank Maurice Cockrill for his introduction and Ian Ritchie for writing so informatively on the late John Hoyland. My thanks also to Beverley Hoyland for allowing us to dedicate this exhibition to John. Finally to everyone who was involved in the success of this exhibition, particularly Elizabeth Wemyss and everyone at The Scottish Gallery and Irina Zaraisky and Jennifer Francis of The Royal Academy. My sincere thanks. Diane Shiach
preface Diane Shiach has made a remarkable imaginative move in gathering together this disparate group of artists from the Royal Academy; such a wide range of approaches to art-making, but each with her or his own startling originality. R.B. Kitaj once described the then so-called ‘School of London’ as ‘a herd of loners’. The members of the London Royal Academy could well fit this title, each artist having her or his quite independent style and priorities, a rich plethora of attitudes and productions that surely would have alarmed the first President, Sir Joshua Reynolds, though an organization that can accommodate both Ken Howard and John Hoyland is nothing if not inclusive. Times have changed since Reynolds’ day and the glorious freedom of expression enjoyed by today’s members does not fit comfortably with the rhetorical pedantry of his 18th century discourses. But this is exactly why the prudently selected works of Diane’s exhibition is such a wonderfully diverse collection, and each upholding Reynolds’ core message – quality, significance and meaningfulness. Maurice Cockrill Keeper of the Royal Academy of Arts 2004-2011
NORMAN ACKROYD Norman Ackroyd was born in Leeds in 1938. He studied at Leeds College of Art, graduating in 1961. This was followed by a post-graduate degree at the Royal College of Art. Ackroyd was elected a Royal Academician in 1988 and was made a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art in 2000. In 1994 he was appointed Professor of Etching at the University of the Arts. In 2007 he was awarded a CBE for Services to Engraving and Printing. He has pioneered a distinctive and highly dramatic use of aquatint which gives his etchings an individual and highly atmospheric quality. His primary subject is the harsh landscape of Britain’s mountains and coastlines. He is one of Britain’s most brilliant and celebrated contemporary printmakers, and claims a Scottish grandparent!
Shiant Garbh Eilean 2010 etching (edition of 90) 49.5 x 78 cms
GILLIAN AYRES Gillian Ayres was born in 1930 in Barnes, London. She was educated at St. Paul’s Girls’ School and went on to study at Camberwell School of Art from 1945-1950. She was horrified by the careful measurements and greyness of the Euston Road Group; instead preferring free brush work and intensity of colour. After a number of teaching posts at Bath Academy and later at St. Martins, Ayres was appointed the Head of Painting at Winchester School of Art; the first woman in the UK to hold such position. She was awarded an OBE in 1986 and a Royal Academician in 1991. She is a Senior Fellow at the Royal College of Art and an Honorary Fellow at the University of the Arts, London. She lives and works on the border of Cornwall and Devon. Represented by The Alan Cristea Gallery, London
HIGH RES REQUIRED
The Owl and the Pussycat went to Sea 2009 oil on canvas 122 x 122 cms
ELIZABETH BLACKADDER Elizabeth Blackadder has a long list of honours and distinctions including being awarded a DBE in 2003. Last year she celebrated her 80th birthday which was acknowledged by a major retrospective at the Royal Scottish Academy. She has been a Royal Academician since 1976, and as well as being a member of the Royal Scottish Academy is Her Majesty’s Painter and Limner in Scotland; the first woman ever to do so. Her interior scenes are draped with Indian patterned cloth or perhaps a kimono behind still lifes of exotic and local content. As the flowers from her garden come into full bloom they are captured in watercolour in perfect conversation with each other across the picture plane: not a mark out of place or redundant. Represented by The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
Crabs and Other Shells 2011 watercolour 29.5 x 40 cms
MAURICE COCKRILL Maurice Cockrill was born in Hartlepool in 1936 and studied at Wrexham School of Art then at the University of Reading. He was a full time lecturer at Liverpool Polytechnic Faculty of Art from 1967-1980 and then has been visiting tutor at the Royal College of Art, Central School of Art and then at the Royal Academy Schools. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1999 and held the post of Keeper of the Royal Academy from 2004 to 2011. While Cockrill’s artistic output has varied widely over his career, he is fundamentally an expressionist but whose work is rich in historical and contemporary reference. His work has been described as “restless, lyrical and challenging”.
Orange Seed 2011 oil on canvas 100 x 80 cms
EILEEN COOPER Eileen Cooper was born in 1953 in Glossop, near Manchester. She studied fine art at Goldsmith’s College and the Royal College of Art (1971-1977). Cooper is one of the major British figurative artists who emerged in the mid 1980’s. Her figurative paintings often focus on women and couples and offer a tender depiction of the human interaction. She was elected a Royal Academician in 2001 and made a fellow of the Royal College of Art in 2006. Eileen was Head of Printmaking at the Royal Academy Schools for many years and was elected Keeper of the Royal Academy in 2011. Represented by Art First, London
Boy 2008 oil on canvas 136 x 91 cms
MARY FEDDEN Mary Fedden was born in Bristol in 1915, attending Slade School of Art from 1932-1936. After leaving college she painted portraits and produced designs for Sadlers Wells and the Arts Theatre. During the Second World War she was commissioned to produce murals for the war effort. She was a tutor at the Royal College of Art from 1958-1964 and was appointed the first female tutor in the Painting School. Mary was elected an RA in 1992 and is now a Senior Academician. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Bath and was honoured with an OBE for her work. Represented by Portland Gallery, London
Three Brushes 2009 oil on canvas 40.5 x 50.5 cms
KEN HOWARD Ken Howard was born in London in 1932 and attended Hornsey College of Art. After a period of National Service he joined the Royal College of Art for a further three years study. He has been a prolific and successful exhibitor and his sumptuous interiors and canal scenes have made him one of the most popular painters of his generation. His main inspiration throughout his career has been the effects of light in all forms; the play of sunlight on water, the grey glow of a London winter or the dappled light cast through his studio windows all drive his artistic output. He was elected an ARA in 1983 and an RA in 1991. In 2004 he became Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy of Arts and in 2010 was awarded an OBE. He spends his time between London and Venice. Represented by Richard Green, London
Richmond Bridge February 2011 oil on canvas 76 x 91.5 cms
BRYAN KNEALE Bryan Kneale is a sculptor, born in 1930 in Douglas, Isle of Man. He was a brilliant student at the Royal Academy Schools from 1948-1953 which included a Rome Scholarship. From 19631987 he was a Tutor at the Royal College of Art. He was elected an ARA in 1970 and an RA in 1974 and has held Senior positions including Professor of Drawing and Head of Sculpture at the Royal College of Art and Master of Sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools. Although an abstract sculptor, a physical connection is important for Kneale in all his work, he has said “Even in my most abstract work I’ve always searched for a persona in order to feel the work has a life of its own”. Represented by Beaux Arts London
Mid Winter 2009 curved, patinated brass 25.4 x 24.1 cms
DAVID MACH Born in Methil in Fife, Mach studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art from 1974-1979, followed by a post-graduate degree at the Royal College of Art, London from 1979-1982. Famed for his dramatic large scale collages, installations and sculptures, often made out of assemblages of mass-produced objects; these can include magazines, coat hangers, car tyres and matchsticks. Mach was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1988 and elected a Royal Academician in 1998. In 2000 he was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools. His most recent solo exhibition was ‘Precious Light’ at the City Art Centre in Edinburgh in the summer of 2011. Famed for his dramatic large scale works Mach tackled his toughest subject yet, The Bible. He said that it had “all the themes and inspiration an artist could want, struggle, pestilence, love, war – it’s dripping with emotion and drama.” Mach’s strength is in his ability to tackle hard hitting issues, injected with wit and humour.
Betty Boop live safety matches and wood glue 46w x 36h x 34d cms
CHRIS ORR Chris Orr was born in London in 1943 and studied at Ravensbourne College of Art from 1959-1963. This was followed by further study at Hornsey College of Art and the Royal College of Art. A string of teaching posts, including Cardiff College of Art and St Martins, led him to his position as Professor of Printmaking at the Royal College of Art which he held from 1998 to 2008. In 1995 he was elected to the Royal Academy and in 2008 was awarded an MBE. On first sight his works have been described as visual mayhem; they are however carefully composed compositions of metaphors, jokes, contemporary references and allusions. Orr sees the fantastical and the eccentric as vehicles for the truth, he invites viewers to ‘read’ his work as well as look at it. His recent work has focused on cities, exploring what lies beneath their outward appearance. He lives and works in Buckingham and London.
“Who Done It?” lithograph and silkscreen (edition of 30) 70 x 92 cms
IN MEMORIAM JOHN HOYLAND
(1934-2011)
‘John, you could be the next Turner!’ declared Robert Motherwell in the 70s. Turner entered the Royal Academy Schools when he was 14, and elected an Academician a year later – by far the youngest Academician ever. John loved the Academy, and particularly the RA Schools. He had a strongly held belief in their ethos and took great pride in helping them and participating in raising funds for their support. John’s association with the Royal Academy began over half a century ago, when he was a student in the schools when Sir Henry Rushbury was Keeper. John greatly admired him, because he gave freedom to the avant-garde and John duly showed his abstract work for his diploma. In parallel with John’s career as a great painter, he taught over five decades and was finally appointed professor of painting at the Schools in 1999, a position which he held for 10 years. However, it is his paintings for which John will be long remembered. ‘He was an original genius: which is to say he was deeply knowledgeable of the definitive originality of the other great artists he admired, and that in his own work he was always in creative conversation – or contention – with them. He was an artist of grand ambition: ambition fulfilled. It is possible now to see John Hoyland’s one-man exhibition at the Whitechapel in 1967 as a defining moment in British painting. In his early thirties, he had produced an astonishing body of work: ‘brilliant colour, full, unmixed… reds, greens and oranges’ deployed with an absolute formal clarity in radiant theatres of colour. The intelligence, originality and imaginative grandeur of the paintings in that show established him without question as one of the two or three best abstract painters of his generation anywhere in the world.’ Extract from Mel Gooding’s tribute at John’s memorial service.
He has painted fugitive images that evoke worlds other than the physical ones that we have been taught exist. They are deep and demand attention. The challenge of the infinite – the void – at the centre of many of his late works – is his confrontation with eternity as can be seen in Jade Lake, painted in the winter of 2006. His colours became his thought waves, and his vibrant triumph can be felt in his last paintings. He has left behind untold quantities of energy and a voice somewhat unheard. His genius and spirit will live on while we continue to discuss and enjoy his work. John’s legacy is the power and value of imagination and his work will inspire others for generations to come. He was flying in his final years into the metaphysical domain. “You choose structure, but colour is like love, it chooses you”, he said to me. “John Hoyland was a very fine painter. His best pictures stand alongside those of the postwar abstract artists, giants like Rothko, Motherwell, Noland and Frankenthaler. And I believe history will confirm this judgement.” Extract from Sir Anthony Caro’s tribute at John’s memorial service. When thinking about his memorial service I wrote: The unteachable human spirit aspiring to the unreachable. This was John’s art, and ‘I paint, therefore I am’ could be his epitaph. © Ian Ritchie 2012 Ian Ritchie CBE, RA, RA Professor of Architecture, Director of Ian Ritchie Architects and founder of Rice Francis Ritchie (RFR) Design Engineers, Paris. His practices’ designs and his poetry have been published in several books, and his art and sculpture is held in several national galleries and in private collections.
John Hoyland’s Studio Photograph: Diane Shiach
They Came 8.9.04 acrylic on cotton 51 x 40.5 cms
Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with their exhibition Twelve Royal Academicians in Edinburgh 7 – 31 March 2012 Exhibition can be viewed online at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/royalacademicians ISBN 978-1-905146-63-5 Designed by www.kennethgray.co.uk Printed by J Thomson Colour Printers All rights reserved. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in any form by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permission of the copyright holders and of the publishers.
16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ Tel 0131 558 1200 Email mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk Web www.scottish-gallery.co.uk
Elizabeth Blackadder Lilies and Mixed Flowers 2011 watercolour 56.5 x 38 cms