Exhibitions - Previous Exhibitions - Graham Sutherland (1903 – 1980)

Another first for Harrogate's favourite gallery!

The watercolours in this exhibition come from four of Graham Sutherland's working sketchbooks.

Graham Sutherland studied at Goldsmiths College of Art in London from 1921 until 1926 where he specialised in etching.

During the 1930's Sutherland started to concentrate more on his painting career with landscapes becoming an abiding source of inspiration.

The subjects for this exhibition are roots, branches, rocks, hills, roadways, pathways, hedges, walls, fences, occasionally cloud formations and flare-like shapes sometime suggestive of one thing, sometimes another.

From 1940 to 1945 he was employed as “the” official war artist, In 1949 his work took a new direction when he received a portrait commission to paint the writer Somerset Maugham, His most famous portrait, that of Winston Churchill (1954) was so hated that Lady Churchill destroyed it.

His most celebrated work, however, which has become widely popular, is the immense tapestry in Coventry Cathedral.

For some years after his death, his work was “out of fashion”, but he is currently back in favour and well worth collecting.