1928-1995
Michael Andrews was one of Britain's leading post-war painters, despite his relatively small oeuvre. Andrews was a notoriously slow and painstaking painter and during his lifetime had few solo exhibitions.
He is often associated with the School of London, a circle of figurative painters which notably included Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach, Lucian Freud, R. B. Kitaj and Leon Kossoff. Similar to these artists Andrews's art demonstrates a preoccupation with the depiction of the human condition.
From the beginning of his career in the early 1950s, Andrews's work was characterised by an intensity of observation and exacting technical virtuosity.
1928
Born in Norwich.
1945-53
Studied at the Slade School of Fine Art.
1953
Rome Scholarship in Painting Lived at the Digswell Arts Trust.
1958-59
Taught at Norwich School of Art, the Slade School of Fine Art and
Chelsea School of Art.
1961
Received Gulbenkian Purchase Award.
1973
Invited to use the Visitor's Studio at the Royal College of Art for 6 months.
1977
Moved from London back to Norfolk. Visited Ayers Rock in Australia.
1992
Moved back to London.
1995
Died on 19 July.
Selected solo exhibitions
2005
Michael Andrews Landscapes, James Hyman Gallery, London
2001
Major Works by Michael Andrews, Tate Britain, London
1986
Rock of Ages Cleft for Me, Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London
Smiths Galleries, London
1980-81
Retrospective exhibition, Hayward Gallery, London and tour
1978
Paintings 1977-78, Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London
1974
Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London
1958, 63
Beaux Arts Gallery, London
Selected group exhibitions
2008
Twentieth Century British Art, Osborne Samuel, London
Violence and Sensation. Francis Bacon and the Remaking of Appearance, James Hyman Gallery, London
Childish Things. Michael Andrews, Georg Baselitz, Brassai, Lewis Chamberlain, Henry Moore, Andre Kertesz, Paula Rego, Edward Weston, James Hyman Gallery, London
2007
A Tribute to Sir Colin St. John Wilson, James Hyman Gallery, London
2006
Home and Away, James Hyman Gallery, London
Portraits, James Hyman Gallery, London
New Directions. Painting and Drawings by Michael Andrews, Peter de Francia, Derrick Greaves and Robert Medley, James Hyman Gallery, London
2005
Fifty Years of British Landscape Painting, James Hyman Gallery, London
2003
From Life: Andrews, Bevan, Bomberg, Coldstream, Kossoff, Sickert, Uglow, James Hyman Gallery, London
1987-88
A School of London: Six Figurative Painters, British Council tour, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway
Robin Campbell Commemorative Exhibition, Arts Council of Great Britain
1987
British Art in the 20th Century: The Modern Movement, Royal Academy of Arts, London
1986-87
Looking into Paintings, Arts Council of Great Britain, Castle Museum, Nottingham and on tour
1986
Gallery Artists, Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London
1985
A Singular Vision, Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, Exeter and tour
1984-85
The Proper Study: Contemporary Figurative Paintings from Britain, British Council tour, New Delhi and Bombay, India
1984
The Hard-Won Image, Tate Gallery, London
Modern Masters from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London
1983
As of Now: Peter Moores Liverpool Project, The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1982
British Drawings and Watercolours, British Council tour, People's Republic of China
1981-82
Eight Figurative Painters, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
1979-80
Narrative Painting, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London and tour.
The British Art Show, Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield and tour (Arts Council of Great Britain touring exhibition)
1974
Contemporary British Painting and Sculpture, Lefevre Gallery, London
1977
Real Life: Peter Moores Liverpool Project, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
British Painting 1952-1977, Royal Academy of Arts, London
1973
Critic's Choice, selected by Michael Shepherd, Arthur Tooth & Sons, London
1972
Tercera Bienal de Arte Coltejar, Medellin, Colombia
1971
The Slade 1871-1971, Royal Academy of Arts, London
1968
Helen Lessore and the Beaux Arts Gallery, Marlborough Fine Art, London
1967
Drawing Towards Painting 2, Arts Council of Great Britain.
Painting 1951-1967, Norwich Castle Museum, Norwich
1966
Survey 66: Figurative Art, Camden Arts Centre, London
1964-65
Pittsburgh International 1964, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, USA
1964
Painting and Sculpture of a Decade 1954- 64, Tate Gallery, London
British Painting in the '60s, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
1962
British Self Portraits from Sickert to the Present Day, Arts Council of Great Britain, London
1960-61
Modern British Portraits, The Arts Council Gallery, Cambridge and tour
1955
8 Painters, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
6 Young Painters, Arts Council of Great Britain, London
1953
Drawings for Pictures, Arts Council of Great Britain
1952
Four Young Artists, Beaux Arts Gallery, London. Young Painters, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
Selected Collections
Arts Council Collection, London
Tate Collection, London
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid, Spain
Selected Bibliography
Andrews, M. and Feaver, W. (ed. B. Gopegui), Michael Andrews: Lights, exhibition catalogue, British Council, 2000
Andrews, M. and Feaver, W., Rock of Ages Cleft for Me. Recent Paintings by Michael Andrews, exhibition catalogue, Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, 1986
Bernard, B. and Raban, J. Michael Andrews: The Delectable Mountain: The Ayers Rock Series and Other Landscape Paintings, exhibition catalogue, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1991
Calvocoressi, R., Michael Andrews: The Scottish Paintings, exhibition catalogue, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 1991
Feaver, W. and Moorhouse, P., Michael Andrews, exhibition catalogue,Tate Britain, 19 July-7 October 2001
Gowing, L., Michael Andrews, exhibition catalogue, London, Hayward Gallery; Edinburgh, Fruitmarket Gallery; U. Manchester, Whitworth Art Gallery; 1981
Hyman, J.,The Battle for Realism, Yale University Press, 2001
Wilson, C. St John, The Artist at Work On the Working Methods of William Coldstream and Michael Andrews, Lund Humphries, 1999