Graham Sutherland: A Short Biography 1903 Born Streatham, South London, the eldest of three children to Vivian and Elsie Sutherland
1932 Designs posters for Shell-Mex and BP and London Transport. Continues to supplement income with design work throughout 1930s
1920-1 Serves as an engineering apprentice at the Midland Railway Works in Derby. Shows little aptitude for engineering as a profession
1933-4 Teaches book illustration and composition in place of etching
1921-6 Attends Goldsmiths’ School of Art and, with his friend Paul Drury, develops a particular interest in etching 1923-4 Sutherland’s etching, Barn Interior, is shown at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition, followed by The Black Rabbit a year later 1924 Exhibits at the Twenty-One Gallery in London. His works are well received and the exhibition establishes a market for his work, which is initially inspired by Sutherland’s contemporaries, such as FL Griggs, as well as old masters such as Rembrandt. Later, the work of William Blake and Samuel Palmer also makes a striking impression on Sutherland 1925 Elected an associate member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers 1927 Marries Kathleen Barry, having converted to Catholicism in 1926. The couple move to the White House in Farningham in Kent Starts teaching two days a week at Chelsea School of Art 1928 Second one-man show at the TwentyOne Gallery Produces designs for Milner Gray’s Bassett Gray design consultancy 1929 The Sutherland’s only child, John Vivian, is born on 16 April but dies three months later The Wall Street Crash wipes out the lucrative etchings market and forces Sutherland to pursue a new direction in his artistic career 1930-1 Two of Sutherland’s last etchings, Pastoral, 1930, and The Garden, 1931, display a more individual tendency, influenced by Paul Nash, with the latter work leading to a breach with the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers
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1934 First visit to Pembrokeshire, which has a decisive influence on his career 1936 Sutherland’s article, A Trend in English Draughtsmanship, published in the journal Signature 1936 Exhibits two works (Thunder Sounding and Mobile Mask) at the International Surrealist Exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries in London. Despite sharing some similar concerns with the surrealists, such as an emphasis on the transformation of the everyday through the power of the imagination, Sutherland does not align himself with the movement 1937 Moves to the White House, Trottiscliffe, Kent. This remains his English home for the rest of his life 1938 First one-man painting exhibition at Rosenberg & Helft Gallery, London, aided by his friend, the Director of the National Gallery, Kenneth Clark 1939 Stays at Upton House in Gloucestershire as the guest of Kenneth Clark 1940 Second solo painting show. It is well received and Sutherland sells 22 out of the 30 works exhibited
1946 First New York solo exhibition at the Buchholz Gallery First religious commission in the form of Crucifixion for St Matthew’s in Northampton 1947 First trip to the South of France and continues to spend time in the area every year 1948 Appointed a Trustee of the Tate Gallery 1949 Paints first portrait commission, Somerset Maugham. Society portraiture continues to be regular sideline throughout the rest of his career 1950 Commissioned to paint The Origins of the Land for the Festival of Britain. The finished canvas measures more than four metres by three metres 1951 Retrospective exhibition of 70 works at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London One-man show at the Hanover Gallery, London Commissioned to produce an enormous tapestry for the high altar of the new Coventry Cathedral, designed by Basil Spence. The project continues to occupy Sutherland for much of the next decade
1962 Coventry Cathedral is consecrated and Sutherland’s tapestry unveiled to the public. It receives a mixed reception One-man show at Marlborough Fine Art 1964 Visits New York for the first time 1967 Visits Pembrokeshire for the first time in 20 years in connection with a film on his work made by an Italian, Pier Paulo Ruggerini. Thereafter, continues to visit and draw inspiration from the Pembrokeshire landscape for the rest of his life 1968 Publishes A Bestiary and Some Correspondences, a set of 26 lithographs 1976 The Graham Sutherland Gallery is opened at Picton Castle in Pembrokeshire. The collection there transfers to the National Museum of Wales following the closure of the gallery in 1995 1977 The Bees aquatints published Portraits retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery, London 1980 Dies in London on 17 February
1952 Exhibits at the 1952 Venice Biennale in the company of an emerging generation of British sculptors whose spiky, aggressive forms the critic, Herbert Read, refers to as the ‘geometry of fear’ 1954 Resigns as a Trustee of the Tate Gallery
1940-5 Kenneth Clark starts the war artists’ scheme and asks Sutherland to participate. During the war, Sutherland travels to Derbyshire and Cornwall to record activity at quarries, steelworks and mines and also paints bombdamage in London, Cardiff, Swansea and northern France. Continues to draw inspiration from the landscape of south Wales throughout the war
Commissioned to paint a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill. The portrait proves controversial and, it emerges in 1978, is destroyed by Lady Churchill
1943 Sutherland’s friend, Eddy SackvilleWest, writes the first monograph on Sutherland, published as part of the Penguin Modern Painters series
1960 Receives the Order of Merit
1955 Acquires La Villa Blanche, designed by Eileen Gray, on the French Riviera. 1957 Receives the Foreign Minister’s Award at the 4th International Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Japan
1961 Solo exhibition at the Galleria Galatea in Turin. Italy proves to be a favourable market for Sutherland’s work for the rest of his career
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