‘Can I make a painting about human experience, without having to depict appearances? Can I paint the human spirit rather than noses and feet? Can I reveal the splendours and agonies of life through space, colour, light, shape, line, confrontation, rhythm and inflections in the paint?’
ALBERT IRVIN OBE RA (1922-2015)
Albert Irvin was a prolific British artist, best known for his exuberant paintings, watercolours, screenprints and gouaches. He was born in London and, apart from brief periods during World War II, continued to live and work there throughout his life. His art focusses on capturing and exploring the experience of being in the world.
EARLY YEARS
The first major connection between painting and Irvin’s own life occurred in the early 1940s when he attended the Northampton School of Art. He had to cut short his studies when he joined the Royal Air Force in 1941 to serve as a navigator. After the war Irvin returned to his passion for art, enrolling at Goldsmiths College in London in 1946. He graduated four years later with a National Diploma in Design. Irvin returned to Goldsmiths in 1962 as a teacher and remained there for a further twenty years.
AFTER THE WAR
Throughout the 1950s Irvin developed his unique style of literal meaning through his painting. In his early career he battled with the two alternatives of abstraction and figuration. It was not until the mid-1950s that Irvin finally moved away from relying on figures and social realism in his work and embraced an approach closer to metaphor and the abstract. Irvin’s reputation began to swell in the art world as his paintings grew in merit, maturity of style, and value. He was increasingly invited to display his work at exhibitions throughout the UK and abroad. A new freedom to experiment also found its way into his work as he ‘played’ with canvas size, colour, structure, shape, and composition.
1970s ONWARDS
The artist continued to experiment and changed from oil to the newly available acrylic paint in the early 1970s. He had a short-lived foray into lithography in 1975 and later began a screenprinting career in 1980 with Advanced Graphics London. The collaborative approach of screenprinting suited Irvin well, and the painterly techniques employed by the print studio were perfect for his mark-making and vibrant colours. He would quickly affirm his reputation as one of Britain’s foremost printmakers. Advanced Graphics London continued to produce and publish Irvin’s original prints until his death in 2015.
PRESENT
The Albert Irvin Estate, run by his daughters Priscilla Hashmi and Celia Irvin, continues to promote his work.
