Albert Irvin RA (British b.1922)
Irvin's large-scale abstract paintings are amongst the most compelling and distinctive produced in Britain today.
He studied at Northampton School of Art and after five years in the Royal Air Force he studied at Goldsmith's College School of Art, where he took a teaching post between 1962-83. His first one-man show was held in 1960 at the 57 Gallery, Edinburgh. From 1961 he held a series of shows at the New Art Centre, London and at the Serpentine Gallery, London.
Paul Moorhouse, Tate curator and author of the book Albert Irvin: Life to Painting, wrote of him: 'even to those familiar with his work, seeing a new painting by Irvin can be an extraordinary experience akin to discovering a young, energetic artist in the first flush of ambition. Given the force of its restless energy, its freshness and the sense it communicates of an artist in love with his chosen activity, it is even more surprising to realise that this is the work of an artist in his late seventies.'
1968 he won an Arts Council Travel Award to America, seven years later gaining an Arts Council Major Award.
Public collections include
Aberdeen Art Gallery
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Arts Council of Great Britain
Birmingham City Art Gallery
Blackburn Art Gallery
British Council
Huddersfield Art Gallery
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
Manchester City Art Gallery
Mappin Gallery, Sheffield
Neue Gallerie der Stadt Linz, Austria
New England Regional Art Gallery, NSW, Australia
Pensecola Museum, Florida
Schindler Collection, Zurich
StKunstsammlungen, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Stoke City Art Gallery
Stuyvesant Collection, Holland
Tate Gallery, London
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Recent Solo Exhibitions
2010, New Work, Gimpel Fils, London; Print Retrospective, Advanced Graphics London/ Kings Place, London; Tabard: Albert Irvin, Churchill College, Cambridge
2009, Albert Irvin, galerie Gimpel & Müller, Paris; Albert Irvin: A Retrospective, University Gallery and Baring Wing, University of Northumbria, Newcastle
2008, Albert Irvin, Manton Staircase, Tate Britain, London; Albert Irvin: A Retrospective, Kings Place Gallery, London; Recent Prints, Advanced Graphics, London; Albert Irvin, Peppercanister, Dublin; Albert Irvin: Six Paintings, Kings Place Foyer
2006, New Works, Peppercanister Gallery, London; Urban Journey, Gimpel Fils, London
2005-6, New Editions and Monoprints, Advanced Graphics, London
2004-5, Midsummer, Gimpel Fils, London
2003, Paintings and Prints, The Storey Gallery, Lancaster; Peter Scott Gallery, University of Lancaster; Peppercanister Gallery, Dublin
2002, Four Score, Gimpel Fils, London; Malerei, Galerie Stuhler, Berlin
2001, Paintings & Prints 1991-2001, West Cork Art Centre, Ireland
2000, Prints & Paintings 1980-2000, Advanced Graphics, London
1999, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol; Orion Gallery, Brussels
1998, Gimpel Fils Gallery, London; Abbaye Saint-André, Centre d'Art Contemporain, Meymac, France; Dean Clough, Halifax; Galerie Markt, Bruckmühl; Vonderau Museum, Fulda; Edwin Scharff Haus, Neu Ulm
1997, Gallerie Stühler, Berlin; Gimpel Fils Gallery, London; Cambridge Contemporary Art, Cambridge; Wassermann Galerie, Münich
1996, Gimpel Fils Gallery, London
1995, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
1994, Gimpel Fils Gallery, London; Galerie Wassermann, Munich; Powell Moya Partnership, London; Chapter Gallery, Cardiff; Woodlands Art Gallery, London
1993, Campo Vlaamse Kaai, Antwerp; Bodilly Gallery, Cambridge; Flower East, London; Design for Diversions Dance Company
1992, Gimpel Fils Gallery, London; Galerie Klaus Lüpke, Frankfurt; Galeria Punto, Valencia; Chelmsford Cathedral Festival; Oxford Gallery; Wolf at the Door, Penzance
1991, Playhouse Gallery, Harlow; Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster University; Flowers East, London
1990, Serpentine Gallery, London; Gimpel Fils, London; Spacex Gallery, Exeter; Oriel and Chapter Galleries, Cardiff; Castlefield Gallery, Manchester; Gallery Monochrome, Brussels
Bibliography
Paul MOORHOUSE, Albert Irvin, Life to painting, London, 1998
Mary Rose BEAUMONT, Albert Irving - The Complete Prints, Lund Humphfries, 2010