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British Artists of the 20th Century This site concentrates predominately on 20th century British artists, although a few stray artists who do not belong to any group, or are not British may also appear. In contrast the Art Department of the Well Furlong Book Shop contains artists from different centuries, nationalities & many isms. The artists featured on these pages are Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Maggi Hambling and Walter Sickert. Clicking on an artist's name in a section heading below will take you to a page with more information about that artist. News & External Links Francis Bacon An exhibition of Francis Bacon's works, the first major retrospective in London since 1985. Tate Britain in London 1st October 2008 - 4th January 2009 Walter Sickert An exhibition called "Modern Painters: The Camden Town Group" includes Spencer Gore, Harold Gilman, Robert Bevan, Charles Ginner & the star Walter Sickert. Tate Britain in London 13th February - 5th May 2008 Salvador Dali A web site dedicated to a film called The Dali Dimension about Dali's love of science and his relationships with eminent scientists. The Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation was created at the wish of the artist in 1983 to promote his work.   British Library Leonardo da Vinci's notebook may be read online here. Apollo Magazine The Art Newspaper Francis Bacon One of the finest British painters of the 20th century. Famous for his screaming pope, Velazquez's Innocent X , caged in a plate glass cube, screaming in a silent world. There is an extraordinary power of emotion related to Bacon’s work; stark and tragic. Lucian Freud OM British figurative artist. His early work was meticulously painted; a Realist. From the 1950s his paintings showed a more impasto effect. It is a delight to see the weight of the paint scumbled dry on to the canvas & its sheer depth. Maggi Hambling OBE Predominantly a figurative painter. She produces comic, moving & haunting paintings, especially the portraits of her mother & comedian Max Wall. She has recently completed the sculpture of Oscar Wilde now standing {or reclining!}, outside London’s National Gallery. W R Sickert One of the outstanding British artists of his generation. His characteristic method of painting was in the reduced, almost grisaille quality of his tones. He specialized in the human figure & urban scenes. Formerly an actor touring with Henry Irving, many of his paintings depict the interiors of music-halls & theatres. An accomplished and witty writer & teacher. Neo-Romantic Painters British movement of the 1930-early 50s were essentially Arcadian. Romanticism, especially the visionary landscape together with the poetry of Wordsworth, and the artists William Blake & Samuel Palmer. Many of the artists were active writers contributing to the acceptance of the movement. Members of the group were Henry Moore, Paul Nash, John Piper, Graham Sutherland, Michael Ayrton, Ivon Hitchens, John Minton, Keith Vaughan, Prunella Clough, John Craxton, Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde. Recent Exhibitions James McNeill Whistler An exhibition of 25 prints by Whistler can be seen at the Fine Art Society, 148 New Bond St., London W1 from 18th October to 8th November 2007. The Burlington Magazine The April 2006 (No. 1237 Volume CXLVIII) edition includes articles about new technical evidence & newly discovered sources of the Music Hall & Theatre of Walter Sickert's drawings & paintings. There is also an excellent review by James Beechey of the Matthew Sturgis book "Walter Sickert. A Life" In this edition there is also an obituary of Lillian Browse written by Wendy Baron. Browse's death is a sad loss to the art world.  She was an admirer, and long time friend of Sickert.   W.R. Sickert London 2007/08 An exhibition of Sickert's "Camden Town Nudes" at the Courtauld Institute Gallery, Somerset House, Strand, London from 25th October 2007 to 20th January 2008. www.courtauld.ac.uk London 2006 'Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec:London and Paris 1870-1910' 5 October 2005 - 15 January 2006 at Tate Britain curated by Dr. Anna Gruetzner Robins. Manchester October - December 2004 'drawing is the thing' Whitworth Art Gallery at the University of Manchester 1st October to 5th December 2004 www.whitworth.man.ac.uk Kendal July - Oct 2004 An exhibition of Walter Richard Sickert paintings: The Human Canvas was at the Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, Cumbria UK until 30th October 2004 Oxford An exciting group of works by W.R. Sickert has been presented to the Ashmolean Museum in the Sands Gallery. There are eight paintings, a pastel & a drawing - all given to the Museum by the Christopher Sands Trust. They include the first version of Brighton Pierrots (1915), Self-Portrait with the bust of Tom Sayers (1913-1915), the pastel version of Noctes Ambrosianae (1906) & a drawing for Tipperary or The Baby Grand (1914). This group is part of the collection formed by Morton & Ethel Sands. The new Gallery also displays important works by Picasso, Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore, Stanley Spencer, Epstein & Frink. They are specially designed display cases which not only contain sculpture but also incorporate drawers for light sensitive works on paper such as the studies for Sickert's much loved Ennui, drawings by Henry Moore & the wood engravings by Gertrude Hermes & Blair Hughes Stanton. The Ashmolean Beaumont Street Oxford OX1 2PH (Closed Mondays) www.ashmolean.org London 2000 There was an exhibition of Walter Sickert's paintings, drawings and prints at:- Fine Arts Society 148 New Bond Street London W1 closed June 15th 2000 This was an 'amazing' exhibition. Incidentally there was one work by Whistler next to several fine works by his pupil Sickert. This exhibition marks the publication of Walter Sickert: Prints by Ruth Bromberg the first catalogue raisonné of Sickert's work. The exhibition shows some of Sickert's finest paintings, drawings, prints & some amusing letters & telegrams from Sickert. Several are to his long time friend Gwen Ffrangçon-Davies whom he met in 1932. His first exhibited works were shown at the Fine Art Society in 1881. James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834 - 1903) American-born painter & graphic artist. Sickert ran into Whistler by chance in 1882. Sickert became his pupil & assistant. 2003 was the centenary of the death of Whistler. The Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow holds one of the largest collections of his work. Events were held throughout the year. The Hunterian Gallery site offers an online catalogue of Whistler's works and much more about the artist. Lucian Freud London 2005 A new 50 inch square oil portrait by Lucian Freud titled “The Painter Surprised by a Naked Admirer” was on view at the National Portrait Gallery in London until May 8 2005. The painting then travelled to a Freud retrospective in Venice in June 2005. London & Edinburgh 2004 A solo show of Lucian Freud's new work of paintings & etchings was held at the Wallace Collection from 31st March to 18th April 2004, before moving to New York in May The Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, London W1 Lucian Freud: Etchings 1946 - 2004 From 2nd April to 13th June 2004 Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh Lucian Freud in the Studio From 30th March to 1st August 2004 Photographs by David Dawson, National Portrait Gallery, London WC2 There was a major retrospective of Lucian Freud's work in June 2002 at London's Tate Britain to mark the artist's eightieth birthday. Francis Bacon & Lucian Freud became lifelong friends in the 1940's. Freud painted Bacon and he was very keen to have the painting, which was stolen in 1988, exhibited in that exhibition. Unfortunately it wasn't found. Extracts from an interview Freud gave to William Feaver can be heard at the BBC website.   Maggi Hambling Cambridge 2007 An exhibition of Maggi Hambling's work called "No Straight Lines" at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge until 29th April 2007. www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk London 2006 An exhibition by Maggi Hambling "Portraits of People & the Sea" could have been seen at Marlborough Fine Art, 6 Albemarle Street London W1 from Jan 25 - Feb 25 2006. It included portraits of Samuel Beckett, David Sylvester, John Berger, Stephen Fry, Sir Michael Gambon, Amanda Barrie, Giovanna Sebastian Horsley & the Dalai Lama. www.marlboroughfineart.com Maggi Hambling Newcastle upon Tyne An exhibition of new sea paintings called "Waves Breaking" is at the University Gallery, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne from 15th September to 2nd November 2007. Kendall An exhibition of Maggi Hambling's drawings called "No Straight Lines" which was at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge earlier in the year was on show at Abbot Hall, Kendall from 16th November until 21st December 2007. London 2005 Works by Maggi Hambling could have been seen at the National Theatre, Lyttelton Circle, Foyer Gallery until May 28 2005. Called “The Telling Eye” John Berger Visual Collaborations with Jean Mohr & John Christie. London 2004 Hambling's portrait of Michael Jackson was on display at Marlborough Fine Arts Summer show from July 27 2004. London 2001 The Marlborough Gallery staged an exhibition of paintings, drawings & bronzes of Henrietta Moraes by Maggi Hambling. 3 October - 3 November 2001 Marlborough Fine Art (London) Ltd. 6, Albemarle Street London W1. Father by Maggi Hambling was at the Morley Gallery 61 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 from October 9 to November 9 2001 London 2000 There was an exhibition of Maggi Hambling's drawings, paintings & sculptures based on the theme "Good Friday", all completed within the last 30 years. The exhibition was at: Gainsborough House 46 Gainsborough St. Sudbury, Suffolk. closed May 21st 2000   Francis Bacon Tate St Ives, Cornwall mounted an exhibition called Francis Bacon in St Ives which will be open until May13th 2007. 'Francis Bacon: Portraits & Heads' An exhibition of over 50 of Francis Bacon's portraits were at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 2005. Millenium Galleries, Sheffield presented works by Francis Bacon in 2001. Barbican Art Gallery - Feb 8 to April 16 2001 London EC2 Bacon's Eye: Works attributed to Francis Bacon from the Barry Joule Archive. The Tate Britain in London staged an exhibition entitled Ruskin, Turner & the Pre-Raphaelites closed 29th May 2000. London's Tate Britain mounted an exhibition called "The Art of Bloomsbury" from November 4th 1999 to January 30th 2000. This exhibition focused on the paintings of the Bloomsbury artists Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and Roger Fry. It also included works by Walter Sickert, Dora Carrington, William Roberts, Henry Lamb, Picasso, Derain and Matisse. There was a major exhibition centred on the life and achievements of the artist and critic Roger Fry called "Art Made Modern: Roger Fry's Vision of Art" at London's Courtauld Gallery from October 15th 1999 to January 23rd 2000. Visit the Courtauld Institute web site for links to major museums and galleries, and other art resources. At the Royal Academy of Arts in London there was an exhibition called 1900: Art at the Crossroads including works by Sickert, Whistler, Degas, Rodin, Bonnard, Cézanne & Picasso. It closed on 3rd April 2000. PRUNELLA CLOUGH Congratulations to the much underrated British painter Prunella Clough on winning the Jerwood Painting Prize, one of Britain's most distinguishes art awards. She was part of a group of artists known as the Neo-Romantics. The other artists in the group were Michael Ayrton, Keith Vaughan, John Minton & John Craxton. In the 1940s & 50s she concentrated on fishing & coastal scenes of East Anglia. In the late 1950s her paintings were of Industrial scenes based on London & the Midlands. They are images made up of several layers, seen through a fine mesh, richly coloured & textured. There was a Cambridge retrospective to mark her 80th birthday. Prunella Clough died on December 26 1999 aged 80. She was born on November 14 1919.   Home|Gaynor|Mike|Art|Theatre|Book Shop Updated 15th March 2008