Tributes to Anthony J Lester (1945-2026)

To mark the passing of art critic, author and prizegiver Anthony J Lester on 19th August 2026, age 81.

I've known Anthony as an art critic and prizegiver and his wife Elizabeth Meek MBE PPRMS PPSWA for nearly 20 years, mostly from us all attending the same PVs at the Mall Galleries. However he's been doing what he was doing for the last 50 years. He was very definitely a constant of the national art society world in the UK and they were together one of the best known couples in it.

I've known for a while about his stage 4 pancreatic cancer for a while - he shared the news on his instagram

I'm borrowing the text from 

• his wife's post yesterday afternoon on her Instagram account; and 
• the Mall Galleries tribute  

except I've bullet pointed his contributions to the art world.

I'll miss seeing that red trilby hat which often came to the PVs too!

ANTHONY J LESTER
1945 - 2026

My beloved wonderful husband Tony, who was my best friend and soul mate, has very sadly passed away after a hard battle against pancreatic cancer. He was the very best and brilliant of men and will be very much missed by those who knew and loved him.

• Art Critic, journalist
• Curator,
• Picture Expert on Antique Roadshow
• Expert on BBC 'Flog it' 
• Radio Broadcaster,
• Author of many books
• Creator of the Anthony J Lester Award, presented at various charity art societies,
• art researcher, and much much more.

This is the post by the Mall Galleries with which he has been much associated over the years

For over forty years Anthony has given massive support to the Federation of British Artists at Mall Galleries.

He curated several exhibitions on behalf of the FBA, including the much-acclaimed Pure Gold: 50 Years of the Federation of British Artists (2011), The Art of a Nation: Irish Works from the Allied Irish Banks and Crawford Art Gallery Collections (2015), and Winners: Award Winning Artists 2020-2022 (2022).

In 2011 he created the Anthony J. Lester Art Critic Award, which he presented at several exhibitions at Mall Galleries, including those of the New English Art Club and the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. Such support resulted in Anthony being made a 

• Companion of the Pastel Society and 
• Fellow of the Royal Society of British Artists. 

In addition to this, he was 

• a long-time Member of the International Association of Art Critics and The Critics’ Circle and 
• a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and 
• Life Member of Chelsea Arts Club.

What I hadn't realised, until researching this post, was quite how many catalogues for both art societies and artists he'd compiled and written. 

This tribute also goes on to mention something I didn't know.

Anthony was introduced to Elizabeth Meek at the Mall Galleries in 2004. He was organising and selecting the works for Not the Turner Prize, a £20,000 award for painting, while Elizabeth was arranging the annual exhibition of the Society of Women Artists. Their relation blossomed and in 2008 they married. Elizabeth introduced him to colourful hats ranging from blue to red to pink to yellow, and zany, multi-coloured shirts. The couple certainly stood out from the crowd and were frequently spotted at the gallery’s Private Views. 

Commnts from those who knew him

I am so sorry to hear this Liz. He was such a lovely man and a great support to artists. His generosity, kindness and enthusiasm will be much missed. Sending you love. X Harriet Mead PSWLA

He was always so generous in chatting to artists at Mall Galleries PV’s, I always enjoyed talking to both Anthony and Elizabeth.
The Art World will miss him, what a wonderful, colourful character he was. Felicity Flutter RI

I am so sorry to hear this. He was so well loved and respected and did so much for artists. I send my love and thoughts. Lilias August RI

 

A final thought - I'm passing on

A few years back Antony and Elizabeth "retired" and went to live on the coast in Sussex.

However, on meeting them at subsequent PVs, I learned from them an invaluable tip about the wisdom of keeping a place in London.

You want to be living somewhere with very good hospitals within very easy reach as you get older and your health starts to cause concern.

Anthony was supported by the Royal Marsden Hospital at the end. I'll let him have the final word.

I am being treated at the Royal Marsden Hospital and cannot praise the consultants, doctors and nurses enough for their professionalism and kindness. My message to everyone is enjoy every day - it's precious.

David Hockney (1937-2026) - Part 1

David Hockney passed peacefully away at home yesterday (11th June 2026) - a month before his 89th birthday. His death was announced this morning

David Hockney Self Portrait, March 14 2012,

iPad drawing printed on paper Exhibition Proof 37 x 28"

© David Hockney

I'm going to write something rather more considered about him (Part 2) - probably on Sunday. But what wanted to record his passing today.

Oddly, the last time I saw him recently on film, I remember thinking I must get an obituary organised. He was looking very diminished and frail.....

I've written about David Hockney on a number of occasions on this blog. You can READ my posts BELOW. I usually organise them by years - but this time they're organised by topic

Those in 2006 and 2016 contain references to his artwork about the Yorkshire landscape. I will never ever forget his major exhibition of paintings of the Yorkshire landscape at the Royal Academy of Art called - which I will never ever forget

Below this I've also listed links to some of the tributes in the media. What you're getting today is the pre-drafted. It's probable some better tributes will emerge at the weekend

Biography

• 2009: Review: David Hockney - A Bigger Picture - about Bruno Wollheim's film David Hockney - A Bigger Picture
• 2016: A biography of Hockney on iPlayer first shown by the BBC in 2015 (and repeated in 2016)

Drawing

Norman Ackroyd CBE RA (1938-2024)

I was very sad to hear that the eminent master printmaker Norman Ackroyd passed away last week - in the  afternoon of a fine warm day (Monday 16th September) at his home in Bermondsey. He was 86

Norman Ackroyd (1938-2024)

Such a contrast to his lithographs and prints of the windswept, rainy isles and vaporous clouds in the North of Scotland and other rugged Atlantic seascapes and landscapes in the UK and Ireland. He was a complete master of portraying the coasts on the Atlantic seaboard.

His capacity for creating vaporous clouds filled with sea birds - with amorphous giant shapes representing the coastline which has stood up the beating of winds and rain from west was simply amazing - and his prints had very many fans.

Norman Ackroyd's map of all the locations (with a pin) where he been
to create etchings of that landscape in his studio in Bermondsey

There's a couple of excellent Videos of him talking about his artwork and his processes on YouTube based on the BBC series "What do Artists do all day?" which reviewed him and his work. These are they....

I remember him very well from when he led the tour on the Press Preview for the RA Summer Exhibition in 2013 - which was the best I'd ever been to. It's always stayed in my memory. He struck me then as a complete "one-off" and a really interesting man who could speak about art in plain English. Probably something to do with the northerner in me responding positively to the fact he was born in Leeds in Yorkshire!

Norman Ackroyd CBE RA
talking about hanging Gallery III at Burlington House (RA Summer Exhibition 2013)
which included works hung in honour of the late Mary Fedden RA
who had recently passed away.

This is a video of Norman Ackroyd talking about the process of selecting and then hanging a Summer Exhibition.

Life and career of Norman Ackroyd

His website summarises his life, art education and the career of Norman Ackroyd. He graduated from the Royal College of Art 60 years ago this summer.

• 1938: Born Leeds
• 1956-61: Leeds College of Art
• 1961-64: Royal College of Art, London
• 1988: Elected Royal Academician
• 1994: Appointed Professor of Etching, University of the Arts
• 1999 - 2000: Professor of Printmaking
• 2000: Elected Senior Fellow, Royal College of Art
• 2007: Awarded a C.B.E. for Services to Engraving and printing
• 2013: Elected Senior RA: 1 October 2013

He has produced work for many significant commissions and has work in prestigious collections all over the world. It also sells pretty fast at the RA Summer Exhibition

He called his medium “painting with acid”, and he was on friendly terms with a vast array of the chemicals, from the violent hydrochloric to the lively nitric, which “bites in all directions”. Daily Telegraph obituary

His work in Art Collections

His work is in the collections of very many prominent art galleries and organisations.

Selected Public Collections

Albertina Museum, Vienna

• Art Institute of Chicago
• Arts Council of Great Britain
• British Council
• British Museum, London 
• Cleveland Museum of Art
• Fogg Art Museum, Harvard
• Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Museum of Modern Art, New York
• National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
• National Gallery of Canada
• National Gallery of Norway
• National Gallery of Scotland
• National Gallery of South Africa
• Queensland Art Gallery
• Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
• The Royal Collection, Windsor Castle
• Stedelijk, Amsterdam
• Tate Gallery, London Norman Ackroyd born 1938 - Tate". Tate Britain. 
• Utah Museum of Fine Art

and numerous museums and art galleries in the United Kingdom

Ackroyd also received several public mural commissions, produced in etched stainless steel or bronze. Recent commissions included Lloyds Bank, London; British Airways, Birmingham Airport; Freshfields, London; Tetrapack, Stockley Park, Heathrow; a bronze mural for the Main Hall of the British Embassy, Moscow; and Lazards Bank, Stratton Street, London W1. RA Obituary

 

Obituaries

Other posts about his life include:

Lest we forget: Karin Jurick

There's just a few artists who are highlighted in my calendar - to remember the anniversary of their death. Karin Jurick is one such.

Karin Jurick died three years ago on the 16th June 2021 age 60.  It was a very big shock - we'd known each other for about 14 years and I still miss her.

While we were not close friends - she lived in Georgia in the US and I live in London - she was very much a blogging chum. She and I started blogging more or less at the same time. I followed her and she followed me and we built our followings together. We were both fans of each other's blogs and we conversed via email from time to time - when time allowed! Like very many people all over the world I used to follow all her blog posts and paintings - particularly those of artists with paintings in galleries - which you can still see on her blog.

She was also a regular featured artist in my annual Making A Mark Awards (see below) - as I adored her paintings of people with paintings.

I can do no better than refer you to the blog post I wrote back in June after I found out about her death About Karin Jurick (d. 2021)

These are links to Karin Jurick and her artwork

• https://karinjurick.blogspot.com/
• https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/atlanta/name/karin-jurick-obituary?id=20696548
• https://www.invaluable.com/artist/jurick-karin-pe3a96j8r6/sold-at-auction-prices/
• https://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/karin-jurick-1074

RIP Robert Wade (1930 - 2024)

I've always really liked the Australian watercolour artist Robert Wade and I'm very sad to hear he has died. 

My first acquaintance with him was via one of his art instruction books. I found his book "Painting More Than The Eye Can See" (North Light Books 1990) to be an absolute revelation when I first encountered it in an art shop and needless to say it came home with me and now sits on a bookshelf just to the right of where I'm sitting. 

The books I used to find worked the best for me were written by people who were practising artists and teachers who emphasised the many different aspects of making art rather than the '5 easy steps' (I'm thinking of people like Charles Reid and Robert Wade). Art Instruction Books #1: different ways of learning | Making A Mark (January 2009)

He's also one of the people I used to follow on Facebook (this is his Facebook Page). He could always be relied on to post his work from time to time - even if latterly he was sharing posts he'd made in previous years.

Robert Wade in 2019

Below is the tribute by the Australian Watercolour Institute posted yesterday on its Faceboook Page following his recent death aged 94. Followed by my summary of his achievements based on his artist's page on the AWI website.

Vale Robert Vale OAM, our esteemed AWI member and acclaimed watercolourist. He will be profoundly missed.

In Robert’s words....

‘Watercolour captures each and every one who takes up the challenge to paint with this glorious and capricious medium. In painting the type of subjects that I do, my main concern is to create an expression of my emotion through light, form and movement. To be able to translate these feelings of excitement from my mix of imagination and reality, and then put them down on paper, takes much intense observation and interpretation. I call my process ‘Perceptive Observation,’ which I define as ‘seeing with your BRAIN, feeling with your EYES, interpreting with your HEART.’ Hopefully, this mix will eventually lead to a sensation that will flow through to the viewers of my work’.

Educated at Scott’s College, Robert A. Wade was introduced to watercolour at the age of six by his artist father but is otherwise self-taught, having undertaken no formal art training. He worked for forty years in the fields of advertising, screenprinting and graphic arts.

In 1986, he received the Advance Australia Medal for his contribution to Australian art and, in 2003, was awarded the Medal of The Order of Australia for his service to Watercolour as an artist, educator and promoter of Australian artists. He is the author of three instructional books, over 100 articles for art magazines and produced five films.

Art Prizes and Awards 

His profile page indicates that Wade exhibited with most of the world’s major Watercolour Societies, winning 

• 13 major awards in England, France and the United States, 
• as well as 120 awards in Australia. 

Among these are 

• the Cornelissen Award, Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, London, 1983; 
• the Talens Award and Public Choice, Grand Prix International, Tregastel, France 1994; 
• Clay Kent Medal, International Society of Marine Painters, Washington, D.C., 1985; 
• eight major awards of the Salmagundi Club, New York; t
• he Emanuel Krueger Memorial Award,1988; 
• three Gold Medals for Watercolour at Camberwell Rotary Exhibition, 1981, 1985, 1987 and 
• the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award, International Watercolour Society, Istanbul.

Collections

His artwork is represented worldwide in numerous public, corporate, and private collections, including 

• the Brooklyn Museum, New York; 
• the Royal Watercolour Society, London; 
• the Salmagundi Club, New York; 
• the Bank of Tokyo; 
• the National Museum of Watercolour, Mexico City and 
• the regional Galleries of Hamilton, Mornington Peninsula and Castlemaine, Victoria, and Grafton, New South Wales.

Memberships

Wade was elected a member of the Australian Watercolour Institute in 1983 and a Life Member in 2010. 

Other memberships included:

• A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, London, 
• a Fellow and former Council Member of the Victorian Artists’ Society and 
• a Life Member and Patron of the Watercolour Society of Victoria, 
• his signature memberships include 
• the American Watercolor Society, 
• the International Society of Marine Painters, United States, 
• the Pure Watercolour Society, United States, and 
• the Salmagundi Club, New York. 
• He is an Honorary Member of both 
• the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, London, and 
• the Sociedad Mexicana de Acuarelistas, Mexico.

I always had the impression he inspired people all over the world. Indeed the last time I wrote about him was in connection with his friendship with Tony Bennett

Maybe the two friends will now be talking about painting in heaven!

A post on my Facebook Page

CHECKLISTS For Remembering Respected Artists

The last two posts I've written have both been about prominent artists and illustrators who are recently deceased. I learned a lot while writing them. As a result, I've developed this post which covers:

• Basic principles for remembering an artist
• Memberships of Art Societies
• Obituaries and Tributes
• Retrospective Exhibitions / Websites

It comments on what happens as artists get older / reach the end of their lives and includes some short checklists of things to think about if you are an artist, an art gallery or an art society and want to remember a respected artist.

Plus a reference to a free resource I've developed for all those artists whose end is nearer than their beginning.

CHECKLIST: Basic Principles for Remembering an Artist

• If an artist is respected, then celebrate their memory. 
• Have your facts and statements written in advance if possible - for tailoring and editing only. That's what all the news platforms do.
• The artist may have died but their artwork has not. It can continue to sell and generate income - but only if you are organised!
• Think about how the legacy can continue before rather than after death!

See The Art Legacy on my website Art Business Info. for Artists

GOOD PRACTICE: Obituary Pages and Legacy Sites

From the Obituaries Page on the Royal Society of British Artists website

I noted while compiling my recent blog posts that some long established art societies have now established Obituary Pages on their websites. 

It struck me that this recognised that prominent artists who have made a significant contribution to a society are NOT just those artists from history that art societies like to write about when boasting about their pedigree. They are also artists from the present.

So, by way of example, take a look at:

• Royal Society of British Artists - Obituaries Page - although interestingly this is not readily accessible via the main menu - which puzzled me.
• Pastel Society - Obituaries - accessible from the main menu - but via news rather than via members section.
• New English Art Club - List of All Past Members - This lists the artists in alphabetical order and provides a link to
• where you can see their art
• the tribute article about them

NEAC FAQs Page includes a question about past members

How you categorise lists can be a challenge. 

• Do you do it by surname - and hence are fair to all? 
• Do you group by decade of election to membership? Making it more accessible for those knowing the age of the artist....
• Do you highlight those more prominent? 
• Do you highlight past officers and those who worked hard for an art society?

There's no right answer - but it is worth giving some thought to. I'd argue there's scope for creating a database approach that allows people to search - although I doubt this will be a priority for any working member. Maybe a project for an enthusiastic and relevant skilled supporter?

CHECKLIST: Memberships of Art Societies

One of the critical things to do is to respect achievements through membership of art societies / groups 

• in the death announcement
• by the art society / art group

The thing is that these days people are getting very much older and more infirm before they die. Continuing memberships can therefore be seen as something that is marginal to their life or an expensive indulgence. Which means some artists may not be members when they die - even if they have been past members. Hence those producing obituaries of members may rule them out as no longer relevant....

GOOD PRACTICE: Create ways for members to remain members

Remembering Tom Coates (1941 - 2023)

Tom Coates PPNEAC PPRBA PPPS PPSEA RP RWA passed away, age 82, on 20 July 2023. He was one of those artists I saw very often at the Private Views at the Annual Exhibitions at the Mall Galleries - as he was a member of so many! He had a presence - you always knew when Tom was in the Gallery! :)

Tom Coates 
(photo courtesy of Felicity House)

I've been waiting for some obituaries to be published before doing this post so that those who know Tom and his work can access them easily.  Below you can find:

• a timeline of his life
• notes of his major achievements, awards and prizes
• links to 
• interviews with him
• obituaries about him

Tom Coates Timeline - Notable Events

You will note that it's very clear that Tom Coates worked hard to become an artist and then worked hard to be an artist - working with art societies, art galleries, on commission and with students.

• born May 5th, 1941 in Aston, Birmingham
• 1956 - 1959 - studied at the Bournville College of Art

"At my first college, Bourneville College of Art, my principal Capel Smith told me to go into graphics. “No,” I replied, “I want to paint!”

• 1959 - 1961 - won his first scholarship to study at the Birmingham College of Art 

At my second college, Birmingham College of Art, I painted everything and anything – from industrial scenes to coal mines where I worked on twilight shift. I had no grant as my parents had emigrated to New Zealand, to the luxury of painting in the warmth of the studio.

• 1961 - 1964 - won a Scholarship to the Royal Academy Schools when Sir Henry Rushbury was Keeper and Peter Greenham was Professor.

I was awarded a scholarship to the RA Schools where my life changed. I relished in the use of oils. My mentor was Sir Henry Rushbury; and I was influenced by Peter Greenham, Charles Mahoney and John Ward. The many prizes I won enabled me to survive.

• Throughout his career, Coates taught at various art schools and workshops while devoting the majority of his time to full-time painting.

my photo of Tom Coates doing a Portrait painting demonstration

at the NEAC Annual Exhibition 2014

He loved demonstrating - playing to a crowd, telling yarns, unbeknown to his sitters putting horns on their head when it was failing and eliminating them as it progressed. Mary Jackson

Tom's library of old sketchbooks acted as a constant point of reference and he always drew from life. NEAC Obituary

Tom Coates sketching from life
(photo courtesy of Felicity House)

• He has been greatly involved with a wide number of art societies - and President of FOUR
• He has exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition since 1980 
• He exhibited widely in the UK and in Kentucky in the USA and had one man shows at:
• UK: New Grafton Gallery, Messum’s Gallery, Mall Galleries, W.H.Patterson’s Gallery, Alresford Gallery and The Royal Society of Birmingham Artists Gallery.
• USA: The Cross Gate Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky
• He worked on commission and accepted commissions from a number of prominent art collectors - including 
• His work is in many UK and International private art collections - including the Royal Collection.
• He was married to fellow artist Mary Jackson
• He died July 20th 2023. His health had declined in recent years but he was still never happier than when drawing and painting - and he never stopped painting.....

Tom died peacefully at home in my arms surrounded by his family. Mary Jackson in RP Obituary

Mary Jackson and Tom Coates in 2022
(Photo courtesy of Felicity House)

Achievements

my photo of Tom Coates - wearing his Presidential insignia 
with his paintings at the NEAC Exhibition in 2014

An achievement not bestowed on many artists was that he was the President of FOUR different Art Societies at different times.

Tyre Nichols - in his own words and images

I read that Tyre Nichols loved photography and went looking for his website after the news of his death and the absolutely appalling videos of how he was murdered by five Memphis policemen.

What I was not prepared for was the irony of both his words and his images - in the context of a death which was revealed to the world via a lens.

The website of Tyre Nichols Photography

This is what he says on his "about" page. My bold highlights the words which really hit home.

Hey guys,

My name is Tyre D. Nichols. I am an aspiring photographer. Well I mostly do this stuff for fun but i enjoy it very much. Photography helps me look at the world in a more creative way. It expresses me in ways i cannot write down for people. I take different types of photography, anywhere from action sports to rural photos, to bodies of water and my favorite.. landscape photography. My vision is to bring my viewers deep into what i am seeing through my eye and out through my lens. People have a story to tell why not capture it instead of doing the "norm" and writing it down or speaking it. I hope to one day let people see what i see and to hopefully admire my work based on the quality and ideals of my work. So on that note enjoy my page and let me know what you think.

Your friend,

Tyre D. Nichols

It's appropriate to remember Tyre as more than just a victim. That wasn't his life.

It's too late to tell Tyre himself what I thought of his photographs - but I can do here.

Check out his Masterpieces page - he really had a good eye for a great picture.

I liked the care with which he found places to take great photos and the angles he got. He took time out to capture sunsets and iconic venues associated with Memphis blues at the right time. His images tell a story of his home town and his life. He makes Memphis look great.

Memphis Blues and Sunsets

I loved this strapline for his home page

A good photographer must love life more than photography itself

Let's remember Tyre Nicholas as a man who loved life, sunsets, photography and his home town of Memphis.

Let's hope that Memphis gives him justice.

M. Stephen Doherty has died

I'm always brought up short when a name which has been very familiar to me for the last two decades of the online art world suddenly comes up on Facebook for all the wrong reasons.

Steve Doherty (known formally as M. Stephen Doherty) died of a heart attack on Saturday 12th November 2022.

Steve was one of those people who straddled the old and new world of communicating to ordinary people about art. He worked in the art magazine industry for 39 years

• He was Editor-in-Chief of American Artist, Watercolor, Drawing, and Workshop magazines between 1979 and 2010 - which used to be part of the Watson-Guptill art operation which I always highly rated (I used to be a subscriber to American Artist and Drawing)
• From 2011-2018, he was the Editor-in-Chief of PleinAir magazine (Streamline Publishing, Austin, TX) - and I followed its activities through newsletters and social media

However, having been through the demise of one publishing set-up (when its competitors bought it out, snaffled the subscribers and then closed it down) I'm guessing he also understood the importance of communication with target interest groups via social media. He certainly maintained a Facebook Page which he used to communicate with other plein air enthusiasts and display his plein air work.

He lived in Waynesboro, in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and was married. The following is from his website 'about' page.

M. Stephen Doherty majored in art at Knox College in Galesburg, IL and graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. He then earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in printmaking from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY; taught art in public schools, a community college, and at Knox; worked in the marketing department of a company that manufactured screen printing art supplies; and then moved to a suburb of New York City. For 31 years, he was the editor of American Artist magazine and launched three other art magazines: Watercolor, Drawing, and Workshop. In 2011, he became Editor-in-Chief of PleinAir magazine and moved to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He continues to edit PleinAir, participate in plein air events, judge art shows, teach workshops, exhibit paintings, and give lectures. He writes a blog http://pleinairstories.wordpress.com. ny that manufactured screen printing art supplies; and then moved to a suburb of New York City.

This was the video that was made about him to honour his career when he retired in 2018.

He wrote extensively on plein air painting. 

• Here's some of the articles he wrote for Outdoor Painter
• Here's his blog which he wrote during 2015-16 Outdoor Painting Adventures
• as well as a book about Plein Air Painting - The Art of Plein Air Painting. An Essential Guide to Materials, Concepts, and Techniques for Painting Outdoors (2017, Monacelli Studio, New York,NY)

He also wrote two other three books

• The Watson-Guptill Handbooks of Landscape Painting (1989, Watson-Guptill Publications, Inc)
• Dynamic Still Lifes in Watercolor, the Art of Sondra Freckelton (1983, Watson-Guptill, Inc)

REFERENCE:

• Website: http://stevedohertyart.com/
• Blog: https://pleinairstories.wordpress.com/
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/PleinAirSteve

Ken Howard (1932 - 2022)

The death yesterday of Ken Howard OBE RA PPNEAC ROI RBSA RWA HonRBA has been announced. 

He celebrated his 22nd wedding anniversary on Friday 9th September with his partner Dora Bertolutti in Mousehole in Cornwall. Sadly his life ended at Truro Hospital on Sunday 11th September 2022, age 89,  following a very bad fall at his home in Mousehole in Cornwall.

Anybody who has been visiting exhibitions in London over the last two decades will have come across the artwork of Ken Howard on multiple occasions. Despite being represented by a leading art gallery in Bond Street gallery he regularly exhibited with art societies - most of which he was a member of.

For me painting is about three things. It is about revelation, communication and celebration. By revelation I mean giving people a way of seeing, revealing the world around them in a way they have never seen before, opening their eyes.

Ken Howard website

He also taught and mentored a number of artists - many of whom are active in art societies and  doing well! (see the end of this post for some of their tributes)

Self Portrait with Merida (oil on canvas) by Ken Howard

Below you can find an overview of the life and work of Ken Howard - including:

• the timeline of his life
• awards and honours
• publications about him and his work - and by him
• membership of art societies
• commissions
• art collections

I'll add in links to other obituaries and tributes about him at the end as I find them.

Ken Howard - a timeline

Ken Howard at 22, Ken Howard at 80

by Ken Howard PPNEAC, RA RBA ROI RWS

Exhibited at Royal Society of Portrait Painters - Annual Exhibition 2013

Early Life

• 1932 Ken Howard born in London. He lived in Alder Grove, Cricklewood and went to Kilburn Grammar School
• 1953-55 National Service in the Royal Marines

Art Education

• 1949-53 Studied at the Hornsey School of Art

As a student he participated regularly in the Hampstead open air art exhibitions and was commissioned to paint watercolours of local buildings and features including Keats House and Whitestone Pond.

• 1955-58 Studied at the Royal College of Art
• 1958-59 British Council Scholarship to Florence

Appointments

• 1973 and 1979 - Appointed official artist in Ireland by the Imperial War Museum 
• 2004-2012 - Elected Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy Schools
• 2007 - Appointed Freeman of the City of London, Liveryman Painter Stainers
• 2017 - Appointed a Patron of the Turner's House Trust

Notable Exhibitions

• 1952 First exhibited at the Royal Academy
• 1959 First exhibited at the New English Art Club
• First exhibited at Richard Green at 147 New Bond Street

Ken Howard painting June Mendoza painting Ken by June Mendoza OBE RP ROI

Art Societies

One of the notable aspects of Ken Howard was his wide and active involvement with various art societies. At one point he was a member of a large number by competitive entry and election. Others elected him as an Honorary Member as they liked his work so much!

• 1962 Elected member of the New English Art Club
• 1966 Elected member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters
• 1979 Elected member of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours
• 1981 Elected member of the Royal West of England Academy
• 1983 Associate Member of the Royal Academy
• 1988 Honorary Member of the Royal Society of British Artists
• Honorary Member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters
• 1991 Member of the Royal Academy
• 1998-2005 - President of the New English Art Club
• 2006 - Elected fellow of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters
• 2008 - Honorary Member of the Society of Graphic Fine Art

Ken Howard was considered by many to be an old favourite and stalwart of more than one society within the the world of the Federation of British Artists.

Latterly he began to become a Judge of many of the art competitions that such member artists entered.

Light effects I-VI, Calle Larga Galliana
a series of six oil paintings,
copyright Ken Howard RA, RWS, NEAC, RWA, ROI, RBA, RBSA, ARCA
exhibited at NEAC in 2009

He was so very popular that this led to a number of artists who sought to emulate him and his art. Towards the end of his career, I commented at one exhibition in 2018

I'm beginning to think that the successors to Ken Howard in terms of scope and style - are now outpainting Ken Howard....

but it took a very long time before that happened!

(Some of his) Prizes, Awards and Honours

• First prize Lord Mayor’s Art Award
• 1969 First prize Arundel Art Centre
• 1978 Prize winner John Moores Exhibition
• Prize winner John Laing Exhibition
• 1982 First prize Hunting Group Awards
• Prize winner Royal West of England Academy
• 1985 Critics’ prize, Sparkasse Karlsruhe
• 1986 Prize winner New English Art Club Centenary Exhibition
• 2001 - Critics’ prize New English Art Club 2001
• 2010 - Awarded OBE for services to Art in the Queen’s Birthday Honours

Ken Howard - Publications

RIP Raymond Briggs (1934 - 2022)

There's not many people who went to the Slade School of Art who have achieved critical and popular success - among adults and children - for their illustrations and text and best selling cartoons and picture books.

Raymond Briggs CBE (18 January 1934 – 9 August 2022) was a British illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist and author. He was also a Patron of the Association of Illustrators. He died on Tuesday age 88 years old.

“Raymond liked to act the professional curmudgeon, but we will remember him for his stories of love and of loss. I know from the many letters he received how his books and animations touched people’s hearts. He kept his curiosity and sense of wonder right up to the last.” Hilary Delamere, Briggs’s literary agent.

[UPDATE: There's a wonderful film about Raymond Briggs and his book on iPlayer - Raymond Briggs: Snowmen, Bogeymen and Milkmen - BBC - I highly recommend it.]

Lifeline

• 18 January 1934  -  born in Wimbledon. His Dad was a milkman and his Mum was a former Lady's Maid.
• 1949 to 1953  -  studied painting at Wimbledon School of Art and typogrea[hy at Central School of Art
• 1953 to 1955 - National Service conscript
• 1955 - 1957 - studied painting at Slade School of Art
• 1961 - 1986 - Briggs began teaching illustration part-time at Brighton School of Art
• 1958 onwards - Illustrating books

Raymond Briggs - banner from his official Facebook Page

Awards

• 1966  -  Won the Kate Greenaway Medal for The Mother Goose Treasury
• 1973 - Won the Kate Greenaway Medal, for Father Christmas
• 1977 - Francis Williams Award for Illustration (Victoria and Albert Museum), for Father Christmas
• 1979 - Boston Globe–Horn Book Award (U.S.), for The Snowman
• 1979 - Silver Pen Award (Netherlands)
• 1982 - Children's Rights Workshop Other Award
• 1982 - Francis Williams Award for Illustration, for The Snowman
• 1992 - Kurt Maschler Award, for The Man
• 1992 - Children's Author of the Year, British Book Awards
• 1998 - Illustrated Book of the Year, British Book Awards, for Ethel & Ernest
• 2012 - British Comic Awards Hall of Fame
• 2014 - Phoenix Picture Book Award for The Bear

His own publications

He switched to writing as well as illustrating and producing his own picture books because it was much better paid. He explains how it took 10 years for this to dawn on him in the video below. Plus provides a few very pertinent tips for those interested in illustrating picture books for children. It's a fascinating listen!

Video posted on his Official Facebook Page today

The illustrated book is around for a long time and has much more permanence.

He initially produced his own work in comic book format. 

His own illustrated publications included:

Fred Cuming 1930-2022

I was so sorry to see in the NEAC Newsletter that Fred Cuming died in June. 

I very much recommend that anybody who admired his work takes a look at the Obituary about him on the gets on the NEAC - Remembering Fred Cuming (plus others below).

His landscape paintings were always a joy to behold and I very much regret I'm not going to see them anymore - except online.

Fred Cuming's paintings - which I'm very happy to stare at for absolutely ages. You can see more of his work on his website - Fred Cuming RA. Those who like the coastline and skies around Britain will appreciate his work.

Exhibition review: The Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition 2009

Central to his practice was to be the sketchbook, the making of what he called “notes” en plein air. Cuming would, as he said, “sketch and sketch … [keeping] sketchbooks everywhere, in my studio, in my bag, in the car”. At his peak, he would get through a hundred a year. Fred Cuming - Obituary | The Guardian

"Four Seasons" by Frederick Cuming RA (oil, 378 x 163 x 5 cm £115,000)
RA Summer Exhibition 2017 

Below are some highlights of his life, formal obituaries elsewhere, some examples of his work and a reference to a previous blog post in which I highlighted a wonderful video about his work 

An appreciation of Wayne Thiebaud (1920 - 2021)

I have long admired and loved Wayne Thiebaud's paintings, prints and drawings. So it was especially sad to wake this morning to the news that he had died, age 101, on Christmas Day, at his home in Sacramento. 

I've written about him before in 

• More Wayne Thibaud: "This for you is my world to look at" 

For me this is a bit of a click and salivate post! In all honesty written entirely for me - for looking at from time to time - rather than sharing with any of you - but you can look too! ;)

• Wayne Thiebaud working on etchings (video) 

This post is going to be an appreciation of the man and his artwork - with links to where online you can see and hear him and view his art. (Note: I'll probably add in more links to his artwork as I find them)

Installation view of Wayne Thiebaud: A Paintings Retrospective
(Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, June 28–September 23, 2001).
Photography by Jerry L. Thompson 

But first click the arrow to the right of the pic in this link to see a slideshow of his work created by his gallery.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Acquavella Galleries (@acquavellagalleries)

About Wayne Thiebaud

Wayne Thiebaud. Photo: Gregory Urquiaga

For me he's an artist who is a luscious realist of the everyday - until you get up close and realise his artwork is also abstracted from reality and the artist relishes the media he used. 

His art started from observation and might more accurately termed be realist when it was a drawing. However artwork developed from his memories and those drawings could become a very different sort of realism.

He's perhaps best known as the painter of cakes, pies, ice cream, boiled sweets and Americana - but he was a lot more than that. He was also a very accomplished figurative and portrait painter. 

By the early 1960s, Thiebaud had begun painting the works for which he is best known, depicting quintessentially American, everyday objects in bright colors—such as cakes and pies, hot dogs and hamburgers, gumballs and lollipops, and jackpot machines. Rather than painting from life, Thiebaud represented these objects from memory, drawing from nostalgic recollections of bakeries and diners from his youth and contemporary commercial imagery. Working with thickly applied paint, Thiebaud often spotlights his objects against pale backgrounds with the well-defined shadows characteristic of advertisements. In order to heighten their chromatic intensity, he outlines his forms in radiant colors to achieve a halo-like effect. In addition to his still lifes, Thiebaud also painted portraits in the same style, depicting solemn figures set against light, empty backgrounds.

His urban and Californian landscapes often took on a new perspective are very striking - and make you look at landscapes with a fresh eye. To me they often seemed to involve tilting or looking up and the optical mixing of colours in both application and positioning on the support which just makes you LOOK at the artwork!