The drawings featured in this section were all made during my initial term at the Royal Academy Schools in London. Throughout that first term, I was—like the other new students—restricted to the Academy’s famous Life Room, yet I found the experience extremely rewarding. It gave me the opportunity to experiment in ways that contributed to my later paintings. Some of my Life Room drawings were purchased by the art historian and former director of the National Gallery, Sir Kenneth Clarke (1903-1983), and the writer and painter, Michael Ayrton (1921-75).
The subsequent paintings in this section were very influenced by contemporary European and American painting, but I wasn’t interested in working on ready-made canvases or other surfaces that would end up being framed. Instead, I wanted to construct every aspect of my work, the only exception being the materials I applied to the surfaces I created—materials that weren’t limited to paint.
The drawings featured in this section were all made during my initial term at the Royal Academy Schools in London. Throughout that first term, I was—like the other new students—restricted to the Academy’s famous Life Room, yet I found the experience extremely rewarding. It gave me the opportunity to experiment in ways that contributed to my later paintings. Some of my Life Room drawings were purchased by the art historian and former director of the National Gallery, Sir Kenneth Clarke (1903-1983), and the writer and painter, Michael Ayrton (1921-75).
The subsequent paintings in this section were very influenced by contemporary European and American painting, but I wasn’t interested in working on ready-made canvases or other surfaces that would end up being framed. Instead, I wanted to construct every aspect of my work, the only exception being the materials I applied to the surfaces I created—materials that weren’t limited to paint.
