Painter, etcher

Biography

1947 Born in Accrington, Lancashire

1965-69 Studied at Slade School, of Fine Art where he was taught by Frank Auerbach

1970-77 Taught part-time then began painting full-time

1971 Moved to Green Haworth, a small village on the edge of the Pennine

moorland and concentrated single-mindedly on painting this location

1973-1980 Abandoned painting in favour of a dense network of lines drawn with pen and

ink, worked as a postman for 7 years, deliberately removing himself from contact with the art world

1980 Began laying his drawings in hardboard in monumental grid formations

Awards

1964 Won First Prize in the Sunday Mirror painting exhibition

1966 Won Walter Neurath prize for painting awarded by Thames & Hudson

Publishers

1981 Arts Council Major Award

1983 Major prize-winner in the 4th Tolly Cobbold Exhibition

Selected Solo Exhibitions

1985,86,90 The Lisson Gallery, London

1995 Whitechapel Art Gallery; Arnolfini, Bristol; Douglas Hyde Gallery (touring)

1995 John Virtue: New Paintings, Jason & Rhodes, London

1999-2000 John Virtue: Large Paintings of the Exe Estuary 1998-2000, Tate Gallery, St. Ives, Catalogue: Paul Moorehouse

2000 John Virtue, Last Paintings of the Exe Estuary, 1998-2000, Annandale Gallery, Sydney

Forthcoming Solo Exhibitions

National Gallery, London (the Sunley Galleries), John Virtue, New Paintings of London, 16 March - 5 June 2005

The Courtauld Institute, London, John Virtue, Drawings and Small Paintings, March - 5 June 2005.

A catalogue with introductory essay by Simon Schama will accompany these two exhibitions

Selected Group Exhibitions

1986 Six Painters at Max Protech Gallery, New York

Selected Bibliography

John Virtue: Green Haworth 1978-1988 with an essay by Richard Cork, Lisson Gallery, London, 1988

John Virtue: New Paintings, Jason & Rhodes, 1995

Paul Moorehouse, John Virtue: Large Paintings of the Exe Estuary 1998-2000, Tate Gallery, St. Ives

Public Collections include

Tate Gallery, London; British Museum, London; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Arts Council England; Government Art Collection; Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, CT; Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis