Anthony Whishaw

Anthony Whishaw RA is an English artist and member of the Royal Academy. Whishaw claims no association with any particular art movement, stating instead that "each painting and work on paper makes its own separate demands". He is also a member of The London Group.

1930 Anthony Popham Law Whishaw is born on 22 May in St Mary’s, Paddington, in London. The family later moves to Brazil, where Whishaw’s father works.

1939 Returns from Brazil with his mother and attends Brunswick School in Sussex. The school is later evacuated to Cornwall during the Second World War.

1944–48 Attends Tonbridge School in Kent.

1948 Awarded Judd Scholarship from Tonbridge School.

1948–52 Studies at Chelsea School of Art, London.

1951 Makes his first visit to Spain, spending a fortnight in Ibiza.

1952–55 Studies at the Royal College of Art, London.

1955–56 Royal College of Art Drawing Prize.

1955–56 Receives an Abbey Minor Scholarship, an RCA Travelling Scholarship and a Spanish Government Scholarship, which he uses to travel to Spain with Jean Gibson. Here he visits the Prado and sees Goya’s ‘Black Paintings’ for the first time. He lives in Spain for some of the next two years.

1956 His first solo exhibition is held in Spain, at Madrid’s Librería Abril.

1957 Marries Jean Gibson and buys his studio-house in Kensington.

1960 Featured in the episode ‘Private View’ of BBC TV show Monitor, following four emerging artists.

1963 Whishaw’s first daughter, Phoebe, is born.

1965 Whishaw’s second daughter, Zoë, is born.

1973 Perth International Drawing Biennial Prize.

1973 Bayer International Painting Prize.

1975 South East Arts Association Painting Prize.

1977 Greater London Arts Association Grant.

1978 Arts Council of Great Britain Award.

1979 Elected to the London Group. His work is included in their exhibitions each year.

1980 Elected a Royal Academician. He exhibits annually at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition.

1981 Begins working in an Acme studio in Bethnal Green. His routine involves driving to Bethnal Green and working there from 6 am until midday, before returning to Kensington, where he paints in the afternoon.

1981 Greater London Council Painting Prize. 1982 John Moores Minor Painting Prize.

1981–82 Lorne Scholarship.

1986 Joint winner Hunting Group National Art Competition.

1987–88 ‘Reflections After Las Meninas’ at the Royal Academy Diploma Galleries, London, touring to Hatton Gallery, Newcastle; Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre; John Hansard Gallery, Southampton; Space, Exeter.

1989 Galerie in Faust, Hamburg, and Galerie in Faust, Shanghai, China.

1991 Whishaw’s wife dies after a long illness.

1992 Elected to the Royal West of England Academy.

1994 Featured on Channel 4 News, in a feature about his 1989 Galerie in Faust exhibition.

1996 Korn Ferry Carre Oban International Picture of the Year.

1999 Featured Artist at Eigse Carlow Arts Festival.

2003 Elected Honorary RWA.

2006 Interview with Brian Sewell on ‘Divine Art’, BBC Radio 4.

2007 ‘Downstream’, exhibition at Osborne Samuel, London.

2010 A series of solo and group exhibitions are held to mark Whishaw’s 80th birthday, including at Kings Place Gallery; the Fine Art Society; and Acme Studios, Bethnal Green.

Solo and small-group exhibitions

2016 ‘Woodland Encounters’, Art Space Gallery, London

2016 ‘Anthony Whishaw RA: Paintings from the Mid-1960s – 2015’, Browse & Darby, London

2011 ‘Eight Large Paintings’ (two-person show with Peter Brook), The Gallery in Cork Street, London, and The Richmond Hill Gallery, Richmond

2010 ‘Anthony Whishaw RA at 80’, Acme Studios, London

2010 ‘Images on the Edge of Perception’, Kings Place Gallery, London

2010 ‘Dancers: Paintings From The Early 1960s’, The Fine Art Society, London

2009 ‘New Large Works’, Victor Pasmore Gallery, Harrow School

2007 ‘Downstream’, Osborne Samuel, London

2007 ‘Arts Unwrapped’, Acme Studios, London

2006 The Dover Arts Club Show, London

2005 Open Studio, ACME Studios, Bethnal Green, London

2005 ‘Works on Paper’, The Walk Gallery, London (with Peter Clossick)

2002 ‘Maverick Images: Shaped, Triptych and Rectangular’, Art First, London

2000 ‘Pueblo Landscapes’, Royal Academy of Arts, London

2000 ‘Trees’, Stephen Lacey Gallery, London

1999 ‘Some Small Works: Maverick Shaped and Chaotic’, Art First, London

1997 ‘Images of Ideas, with Memory in Mind’, Art First, London

1994 ‘Pueblo Landscapes’, Art Space Gallery, London

1993 ‘Works on Paper’, Art Space Gallery, London

1992 ‘On the Edge of Representation’, Art Space Gallery, London

1991 Blason Gallery, London

1989 Galerie in Faust, Hamburg, touring to Galerie in Faust, Shanghai, China

1994–95 ‘On Memory and Reflection’, The Barbican Centre, London, touring to Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter; The Maclaurin Art Gallery, Ayr; Huddersfield Art Gallery; R.H.A Gallagher Gallery, Dublin; Hatton Art Gallery, Newcastle; Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield; Newport and Bolton Museums

1987–8 ‘Reflections After Las Meninas’, Royal Academy of Arts, Diploma Gallery, London; Hatton Gallery, Newcastle; Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre; Hansard Gallery, Southampton; Exeter

1986–93 ‘Painting and Works on Paper’, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

1986 ‘Large Landscapes’, Royal Academy of Arts, London

1985 Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield

1983 ‘Work on Paper’, Nicola Jacobs Gallery, London

1982–83 ‘From Landscape’, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, touring to Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, and Bede Gallery, Jarrow

1982 Open Studio, ACME Studios, Bethnal Green, London

1981 Nicola Jacobs Gallery, London

1980 Wapping Open Studios, London

1979 Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic Art Gallery

1979 New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham (with Martin Froy)

1978 Oxford Gallery, Oxford

1978 Acme Gallery, London

1974 Hoya Gallery, London

1973 Folkestone Art Centre

1972 New Art Centre, London

1971 ICA, London

1960 Roland Browse and Delbanco, London (also 1961, 1963, 1965 and 1968)

1953 Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (with Cecil Collins and Willi Soukop)

1956 Librería Abril, Madrid

Annual Group Exhibitions

1993 – present Royal West of England Academy Autumn Exhibition

1980 – present Acme Open Studios

1980 – present Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

1979 – present The London Group

Recent Group exhibitions

2015 ‘Combines’, The Cello Factory, London

2015 ‘The Bright Field’, The Old Big School Gallery, Tonbridge School, Tonbridge

2015 ‘The Royal Academy at Wolfson College’, Cambridge

2014–15 ‘Arboretum’, The Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

2014 ‘Four Contemporary Artists’, Osborne Samuel, London

2012 ‘RA Now’, Royal Academy of Arts, London

2011 ‘The RA’s Come to Richmond’, The Richmond Hill Gallery, Richmond

2011 ‘Celebrating 25 Years of the Art Space Gallery’, Art Space Gallery, London

2011 ‘Revelations’, The Richmond Hill Gallery, Richmond

2011 ‘The Invisible Line’, 12 Painters from The London Group, London

2010 ‘Images of St Paul’s in the 21st Century’, St Paul’s Cathedral, London

2010 ‘Near and Far’, The Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

2010 ‘The RA’s Come To Richmond’, The Richmond Hill Gallery, Richmond

2010 30 years of Eigse Art, Visual Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow, Ireland

2009 ‘The ING The Discerning Eye Exhibition’, The Mall Galleries, London

2009 Open Exhibition 2009, The London Group, Menier Gallery, London

2008 Summer Show, The Richmond Hill Gallery, Richmond

2008 Spring Show, The Richmond Hill Gallery, Richmond

2007–08 Winter Show, The Richmond Hill Gallery, Richmond

2007 Bridge Art Fair, The Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London

2006 Royal Academicians in Dubai

A.T. Kearney

Museo de Arte Moderno, Murcia, Spain

Albert E.Sharp

Museo de Bahia, Brazil

Alliance and Leicester

Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland

Anderson Consulting

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

Arts Council of Great Britain

National Gallery of Wales

Ashikaga Bank of Tokyo

National Westminster Bank

Baring Asset Management

Oxford University, St Anne’s College

Power Art Gallery, Sydney, Australia

Bolton Art Gallery

Rosehaven PLC

Chantrey Bequest

Royal Academy, London

Christchurch, Kensington

Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

City Art Galleries, Sheffield

Seattle Museum of Art, USA

Crown Commodities

Sharjah Museum

Deutsche Morgan Grenfell

Shell-BP

European Parliament, Strasbourg

Stanhope PLC

Government Art Collection

The Bank of Boston, USA

Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield

The Financial Times

Huddersfield Museum and Art Gallery

The Herbert, Coventry

Ladbrokes

The Long Term Credit Bank of Japan

Leamington Spa Museum and Art Gallery

The Tate Gallery, London

Tower Hamlets Art Association

Linklaters and Paines

www.anthonywhishaw.com

In 1989 Whishaw was elected to The London Group. In 1980 he was elected Associate of the Royal Academy, and in 1989 he became a Royal Academician. He was also elected as a member of the Royal West of England Academy in 1992.