Human sympathy and understanding

Sailors are superstitious and when John Bellany, who comes from a family of fishermen, dared as a boy to whistle aboard a boat the crew were shocked. Now, surely there'd be a storm. For over thirty years now this fine Scottish painter has been whistling up a storm, and raising hell too. Literally, when he was a student, first in Edinburg
h and then here at the Royal College of Art from 1965. And figuratively too in painting after painting, so many of which call to mind that unyielding Calvinism which was so much part of John Bellany's childhood in Port Seton on the bleak coast east of Edinburgh. Very little takes the guilt off Scottish ginger-bread. And it was hell raising that piloted Bellany into Professor Sir Roy Calne's operating theatre at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge. What amazed Sir Roy and his staff was that the day after they let Bellany out of intensive care he demanded not painkillers but pen and paper to start drawing. And in time he'd be teaching the physician to paint too. Once an outsider with 'heather coming out of his ears' as he described himself when he first came to London, and a figurative artist in the 1960's when almost everyone else was in love with abstraction, he now seems at the very heart of contemporary image making. Today his paintings, drawings and prints are to be found in public and private collections across the world.
Carel Weight, who was head of the painting school when John Bellany arrived at the Royal College, was a man of few words, but he chose well for Bellany. "He has tremendous roots", he said. Roots in the fishing which had once earned a decent living for Port Seton: the wooden boats, the tough men, their waiting women and the fish themselves. Most notably the skate, a leitmotif in his work like the parrots, playing cards, puffins, pianos and the masks which constitute this painter's private imagery. Not to mention generous women and tumescent lighthouses, and a passion for big, bright, splashy colours - reds, yellows, oranges and greens. John Bellany wears his art on his sleeve, but that's what we admire in an expressionist. It was Max Beckmann, along with Breughel and Bosch and Kokoschka who caught Bellany's eye as a student. And it was Max Beckmann who said in a lecture in London in 1938 that "the elimination of the human component from artistic representation is the cause of the vacuum which makes us all suffer in various degrees."..."Human sympathy and understanding must be reinstated."

Christopher Cook BBC, Christopher Frayling, Rector, RCA

Selected Bibliography

1942 Born in Port Seton, Scotland
1960-65 Edinburgh College of Art. Studied painting under Sir Robin Philipson
1965 68 Royal College of Art, London. Studied under Carel Weight and Peter de Francia
1967 Official cultural visit to East Germany with Alan Bold and Alexander Moffat: visited Dresden, Halle,, Weimar,, East Berlin and the
Concentration Camp of Buchenwald
1968 Lecturer in Painting, Brighton College of Art
1969-73 Lecturer in Painting, Winchester College of Art . Visiting Lecturer at Royal College of Art, London and Goldsmiths College of Art, London
1978-84 Lecturer in Painting, Goldsmiths College of Art, London
1983 Artist in Residence, Victoria College of the Arts, Melbourne
1988 Elected Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
1994 Awarded CBE by Her Majesty The Queen
1996 Awarded Honorary Doctorate, University of Edinburgh
1998 Honorary D Lit, Heriot Watt, University of Edinburgh
Honorary Senior Fellow, Royal College of Art, London

Awards, commissions and prizes

1962 Andrew Grant Scholarship; travelled to Paris
1965 Postgraduate Travelling Scholarship;
travelled to Holland and Belgium
Commissioned by Ministry of Agriculture
and Fisheries to paint murals for Chesser House,
Edinburgh
1965 Burston Award at Royal College of Art, London
1980 John Moores Prize Winner
1981 Major Arts Council Award
1985 Athena International Art Award
(joint first-prize winner)
1987 Wollaston Award, Royal Academy, London
1991 Commissioned to paint Lord Renfrew and Sir Roy Caine
by the National Portrait Gallery, London
1992 British Council visit to Central Europe; Prague;
Vienna; Budapest
1993 Korn/Ferry Picture of the Year, Royal Academy, London

Public collections

Aberdeen Art Gallery
Arts Council of Great Britain
Belfast Polytechnic
British Council
British Museum, London
Chesser House, Edinburgh
Contemporary Art Society
Dundee Central Museum and Art Gallery
Edinburgh Corporation
Ferens Art Gallery, Hull
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Glasgow Art Galleries and Museums
Government Art Collection
Hatton Gallery, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow
J. F. Kennedy Library, Boston
Kassa Kasser Museum, New York
Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery
Leeds City Art Gallery
Leicester Museum and Art Gallery
Maclaurin Art Gallery, Ayr
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Middlesbrough Art Gallery
Museum of Boca Raton, Florida
Museum of London
Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Gallery of Art, Gdansk
National Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin
National Gallery of Poland, Warsaw
National Library of Congress, Washington
National Portrait Gallery, London
New York Public Library
Perth Museum and Art Gallery
Royal College of Art, London
Scottish Arts Council
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
Sheffield City Art Gallery
Southampton City Art Gallery
Swindon Museum and Art Gallery
Tate Gallery, London
University of Western Australia, Perth
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
Wolverhampton Municipal Art Gallery and Museum
Zuider Zee Museum, Holland
Solo exhibitions
1965
Dromidaris Gallery, Holland
1968
Edinburgh College of Art
1969
Winchester School of Art
1970
Drian Gallery, London
Hendricks Gallery, Dublin
1971
New 57 Gallery, Edinburgh
Printmakers Workshop, Edinburgh
Drian Gallery, London
1972
Royal College of Art, London
1973
Triad Arts Centre, Bishop's Stortford
Edinburgh City Arts Centre
Drian Gallery, London
1974
Drian Gallery, London
1975
Aberdeen City Art Gallery
1977
Acme Gallery, London
1978
Glasgow Print Studio Gallery
Scottish Arts Council Gallery, Edinburgh
Printmakers Workshop Gallery, Edinburgh
Crawford Arts Centre Gallery, St. Andrews
1979
Glasgow Print Studio Gallery
Third Eye Centre, Glasgow
Southampton City Art Gallery
Newcastle Polytechnic Art Gallery
Glasgow Print Studio Gallery
1980
Acme Gallery, London
Moira Kelly Fine Art, London
1981
Goldsmiths College Gallery, London
1982
Rosa Esman Gallery, New York
1983
Paintings 1971-1982, touring exhibition to:
Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield
Third Eye Centre, Glasgow
Rochdale Art Gallery, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle-upon Tyne
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Maclaurin Art Gallery, Ayr
Rosa Esman Gallery, New York
Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne
1984
Dusseldorf Gallery, Perth
Roslyn Oxley Gallery, Sydney
Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney
Mercury Gallery, Edinburgh
Rosa Esman Gallery, New York
1986
National Portrait Gallery, London
Fischer Fine Art, London
Galerie Krikhaar, Amsterdam
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh,
and Serpentine Gallery, London (retrospective)
Inaugural Exhibition for opening of Henry Moore Gallery,
Royal College of Art, London
1987
Peacock Gallery, Aberdeen
Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London
"The Old Man and the Sea": Paintings and Prints',
Compass Gallery, Glasgow
Greenhill Galleries, Perth
Roslyn Oxley Gallery, Sydney
Butler Gallery, Kilkenny Castle, Ireland
Hendricks Gallery, Dublin
Maclaurin Art Gallery, Ayr
Third Eye Centre, Glasgow
'Recent Acquisitions', National Portrait Gallery, London
1988
Ruth Siegel Gallery, New York
'Bellany as Printmaker 1965-85',
Third Eye Centre, Glasgow
Printmakers Workshop Gallery, Edinburgh
Aberdeen Art Gallery
Beaux Arts, Bath
1988-89
Hamburger Kunsthalle and Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund (retrospective)
1989
"The Renaissance of John Bellany",
Watercolours painted in Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge'
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Fischer Fine Art, London
1989
'John Bellany "A Renaissance"
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Aberdeen Art Gallery
Beaux Arts, Bath
1990
Raab Gallery, Berlin
Ruth Siegel Gallery, New York
Compass Gallery, Glasgow
1991
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Fischer Fine Art, London
1992
'John Bellany "A Long Night's Journey into Day Paintings
1972-92", Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow
1992
Flowers East Gallery, London
1993
Flowers East Gallery, London
Berkeley Square Gallery, London
1994
Beaux Arts, Bath
1995
Terry Dintenfass Gallery, New York
Edinburgh Festival Exhibition
Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh
Strathclyde University Gallery, Glasgow
1996
Peacock Gallery, Aberdeen
MacGeary Gallery, Brussels
Galeria Kin, Mexico
1997
'John Bellany "A toast to Mexico", Beaux Arts, London
1998
'John Bellany "a Scottish odyssey", Beaux Arts, London
1998-99
Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida
2000
Beaux Arts, London
Solomon Gallery, Dublin
Selected group exhibitions
1963
Edinburgh Festival Exhibition, hung on railings, Castle Terrace
(with Alexander Moffat)
1967
'John Moores Exhibition 6', Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1968
London Group
1971
'Scottish Realism', (Scottish Arts Council Touring Exhibition)
'10 Scottish Printmakers', Sussex University
1972
'British Figurative Art', Nova London Gallery, Copen hagen
1973
'Fanfare for Europe', Drian Gallery, London
'Figures in the Landscape', (Arts Council Touring Exhibition)
'London Group', Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
1974
'A Choice Selection', Scottish Arts Council Galiery, Edinburgh
'British Painting'74', Hayward Gallery, London
'British Art '74', Germany (British Council Touring Exhibition)
'John Moores Exhibition 9', Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1976
'John Moores Exhibition 10', Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1977
'25 Years of British Painting', Royal Academy, London
'Expressionism and Scottish Painting', (Scottish Arts Council
touring exhibition)
'London Group', Royal College of Art, London
'Scottish Painting', Edinburgh College of Art
'British Painting', Nottingham Castle
1979
'Scottish Artists', Amos Anderson Gallery, Helsinki
'Tate '79', Tate Gallery, London
'Independent Irish Artists Exhibition', Municipal
Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin (with Bacon, Crozier and Freud representing Britain)
'British Painting', Oxford University
'The British Art Show' Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield,
(and touring exhibition)
1980
'John Moores Exhibition 12', Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
(Prize Winner)
'British Art 1940-1980: The Arts Council
Collection', Hayward Gallery, London
1981
National Portrait Gallery, London
'13 British Artists', (British Council exhibition touring) Germany
'Art and the Sea', (touring exhibition)
lan Birksted Gallery, London
1982
'The Subjective Eye', (touring exhibition)
'John Moores Exhibition 13', Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
'Contemporary Choice', Serpentine Gallery, London
'Inner Worlds', (Arts Council touring exhibition)
'Drawing Towards Prints', Printmakers' Workshop, Edinburgh
1983
Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin
'Self-Portraits', (Scottish Arts Council touring exhibition)
1984
'Scottish Expressionism', Warwick Arts Trust, London
'The Hard-Won Image', Tate Gallery, London
'The British Art Show', (touring exhibition)
1985
'Athena International Awards', Mall Galleries London
(joint first-prize)
'British Painting', Manchester City Art Galleries;
Fine Art Society, Edinburgh
1986
'Man and Animals', (Arts Council exhibition), Nottingham Castle
'Celtic Vision', touring exhibition opened in Madrid
1987
'Scottish Painting 1954-87', 369 Gallery, Edinburgh:
Warwick Arts Trust, London
Awarded George Walliston Prize for best work in
Royal Academy, London
Represented Britain: 'Ljubljana Print Biennale',
Yugoslavia, '2nd Triennale of European
Engraving', Grada, Italy
'The Self Portrait', selected by Edward Lucie-Smith
and Sean Kelly, Artsite Gallery, Bath;
Fischer Fine Art, London
'The Scottish Bestiary'(portfolio of prints touring
exhibition), The Banqueting House, London
1988
'British Romantic Painting', touring exhibition opened in Madrid
'The Royal College of Art Print Portfolio Exhibition',
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
1989
'El Greco', National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh (guest artist)
'Eros in Albion' (House of Massaccio) Italy,
(British Council Exhibition)
'British Figurative Painting', selected by Norbert Lynton
'Every Picture Tells a Story', (British Council touring exhibition),
Hong Kong; Singapore; Africa
'Scottish Paintings since 1900', Scottish National Gallery of
Modern Art, Edinburgh; Barbican Art Gallery, London
1990
'Glasgow's Great British Art Show', McLellan Galleries, Glasgow
'The Compass Contribution', Tramway, Glasgow
'8 Scottish Printmakers', (British Council touring exhibition),
Singapore; Glasgow
'Turning the Century; The New Scottish Painting'
(touring show), Raab Gallery, London; Milan, Berlin; USA
'Bellany, Howson, McFadyen', Auchencloss Gallery, New York
'Scotland Creates', McLellan Galleries, Glasgow
1992
'New British Art', Denmark, (British Council Exhibition)
1993
'Scottish Painting', Flowers East, London
'Contemporary Trends in British Art', Hayward Gallery, London
'John Moores Exhibition 18', Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1994
'The Bigger Picture', McLellan Galleries, Glasgow
1995
'Contemporary British Artists',
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
1996
'Contemporary European Figurative Painting',
Walter Gropius Gallery, Berlin
National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
'Contemporary Scottish Painting', Edinburgh City Art Centre
'An American Passion' - The Susan Kasen Summer
and Robert D. Summer collection of contemporary
British Painting, McLellan Galleries, Glasgow;
Royal College of Art, London
Inaugural exhibition of the collection, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow
'A Scottish Renaissance', Hong Kong Gallery
(British Council Exhibition)
1997
'Contemporary Scottish Portraits',
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
'British Art from the Arts Council Collection',
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
1998
'Religious Images', National Gallery of New South
Wales, Sydney
Edinburgh Festival Group, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
25 Years of the Kilkenny Castle Guest Artists Project, Kilkenny
1999
Rehang with Max Beckmann and Stanley Spencer,
Tate Gallery, London
'Scottish Artists', Solomon Gallery, Dublin
'Scottish Art Now', Festival Exhibition, Edinburgh City Art Centre