B. 1931
One of the most powerful draughtsmen at work today, the paintings and drawings of Dennis Creffield combine a fidelity to the subject with immense improvisation to fuse empiricism with a profound spirituality. Perhaps most famous for his epic drawings of the cathedrals of England and France, the human body has also been a long-standing preoccupation.
Creffield's work is in numerous museum collections from Tate Britain to Los Angeles County Museum.
Dennis Creffield is represented by James Hyman Fine Art, London.
1931
Born in London
1948-51
Studied with David Bomberg at the Borough Polytechnic, London
1957-61
Studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, London
Winner of the Tonks Prize for Life Drawing
Winner of the Steer Medal for Landscape Painting
1961
A prizewinner at the John Moores Exhibition, Liverpool
1962-84
Member of the London Group
1964-68
Gregory Fellow in Painting at the University of Leeds
1977
Arts Council Major Award for Painting
1987
Commissioned by the South Bank Board to draw all the medieval cathedrals of England
1990
House of Commons Fine Art Committee commission
1996/94/92/90
The National Trust's Foundation for Art commissions
1997
Rome Abbey Scholarship
2002
Commissioned by globegallery, Hay-on-Wye, to draw Welsh and English castles
2007
Commissioned by James Hyman to produce works on the theme of Jerusalem
Exhibitions
2011
Dennis Creffield. Jerusalem, James Hyman Fine Art,London
2007
Dennis Creffield. Body and Soul, James Hyman Fine Art, London
2006
Imagining Mozart, Maltby Contemporary Art, Winchester
2005
Dennis Creffield. Retrospective Exhibition, Flowers East, London
2002
Impressions of Castles, Drawings of Welsh and English Castles, globegallery, Hay-on-Wye
2001
Orford Ness: The Pagodas and other Buildings, Aldeburgh Cinema Gallery, Suffolk
1999
A Year of Saturdays. Paintings and Drawings of London, Clifford Chance, London
1995
Paintings and Drawings of Orford Ness, Connaught Brown, London
1993-5
Paintings of Petworth, Gillian Jason Gallery, London, touring exhibition to Petworth House; Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham; Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery; Durham Art Gallery; Brighton Museum & Art Gallery
1992
Paintings and Drawings of London 1960-90, Barbican Gallery, London
Selected Paintings and Drawings 1963-83, The Charleston Gallery, Sussex
1991
French Cathedrals, Albermarle Gallery, London
1988-90
English Cathedrals, South Bank touring exhibition to Winchester; Wrexham; Norwich; Peterborough; Durham; Sheffield; Manchester; Brighton; Canterbury; Coventry; Worcester; Exeter; The Camden Arts Centre, London
1989
A Midsummer Night's Dream - Painting and Drawing, Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham and the Royal Shakespeare Company Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
1981
The Wraxall Gallery, London
1980
Drawings, Serpentine Gallery, London
Paintings, AIR Gallery, London
1979
Paintings and Drawings, University of Essex, Colchester
1977
Paintings and Drawings, Brighton Polytechnic Gallery, Brighton
1974
Paintings and Drawings, Morley Gallery, London
1971
Paintings and Drawings, Gardner Centre for the Arts, University of Sussex, Brighton
1967
Drawings, Queens Square Gallery, Leeds
1966
Paintings and Drawings, Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds
Group Exhibitions
2011
Beyond the Human Clay, James Hyman Fine Art, London
2009
The Borchard Collection, Artists' Self Portraits, Kings Place Gallery, London
Water Water Everywhere, James Hyman Fine Art, London
2008
Drawn from the Collection. 400 Years of British Drawing, Tate Britain, London
Treasures from the Wilson Collection, Falmouth Art Gallery, Falmouth
2007
A Tribute to Sir Colin St. John Wilson, James Hyman Fine Art, London
Bomberg and The Borough Group, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester
2006
Drawing Inspiration, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, Cumbria
2004
War Fields Exhibition, The Imperial War Museum, London and The Wolsley Gallery, Ipswich
Bomberg and the Borough, Tate Britain, London
Bomberg and Pupils: The Borough Group, 1946-51, The Boundary Gallery, London
Tom Bendhem: Collector, Contemporary Art Society touring exhibition, 2004-5
2001
Small is Beautiful, Flowers East, London
1999
Starting a Collection, Art First, London
1998/97/96
The Ice Gallery, New York
1997
The Art of Drawing, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester
1996
Inside Bankside, South London Gallery, London
1995
The National Trust Centenary Exhibition, Christie's, London
1993
The Sussex Scene. Artists in Sussex in the 20th Century, Towner Gallery, Eastbourne and the Hove Museum & Art Gallery, Hove
Portrait of the Artist's Mother from Memory, Flowers East, London
1992-3
Prospects, Towner Gallery, Eastbourne
Innocence and Experience, Arts Council touring exhibition
Figurative Painting in the 20th Century, The British Council, Sotheby's London and the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1991-2
Hortus Cambrensis, Welsh Gardens, touring exhibition in Wales
1991
Marks of Tradition, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford
1989-90
New Icons, Warwick University Art Gallery, touring exhibition to Exeter and Lincoln
1988
Cathedral Drawings, The Bar Convent Museum, York
1987
Landscapes, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester
Drawing into Paintings: Narrative, Arts Council touring exhibition
Past and Present: Contemporary Artists Drawing from the Masters, South Bank Centre touring exhibition
1986-87
English Flower Paintings, Arts Council touring exhibition
1985-8
Rocks and Flesh: British Drawings, touring exhibition
1985
Human Interest: 50 Years of British Art About People, Arts Council
1984-6
Two Dimensions, SE Arts Council/Sweden Exchange Exhibition, Sweden
1983
British Artists at the Cyprus Summer School, Woodlands Gallery, London
Drawings, Anne Berthoud Gallery, London
1982
Figurative Art Today (with Davidson and Epstein), Seven Dials Gallery, London
1981
Drawings, Moira Kelly Gallery, London
3rd Tolly Cobbold Eastern Arts National Exhibition, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Artists for Nuclear Disarmament, Acme Gallery,
London
1979-80
The British Art Show, Arts Council touring
exhibition
1978
British Painting 1953-1978, The Royal Academy, London
1977
Life Drawing (with John Epstein), Brighton Polytechnic Gallery, Brighton
1972
Brighton Festival, Brighton Polytechnic Gallery, Brighton
1971
Art Spectrum South, Arts Council touring exhibition
Slade Centenary Exhibition 1871-1971, The Royal Academy, London
1967
Nudes, Grosvenor Gallery, London
1966
Survey 66: Figurative Painting, Camden Arts Centre, London
Gregory Fellows (with Neville Boden), AIA Gallery, London
1965
International Exhibition of Drawing, Toronto, Canada
1964
London Group Jubilee Exhibition 1914-64, Tate Gallery, London
1961
Six Young Painters, Arts Council touring exhibition
1960
Seven Figurative Painters, AIA Gallery, London
1957-61
Young Contemporaries (awarded Arts Council Prize 1960), London
1952
Four English Painters (with Holden, Mead and Richmond), Stockholm, Sweden
Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen
Accenture
Arts Council of Great Britain
Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Birmingham City Art Gallery, Birmingham
Brighton University, Brighton
British Land, London
Bury Art Gallery and Museum, Lancashire
Cheltenham Art Gallery, Cheltenham
The Contemporary Art Society, London
The Contemporary Art Society for Wales
Clifford Chance, London
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
The Government Art Collection
East Sussex County Council
The Guildhall Museum, London
Harris Museum, Lancashire
Hong Kong Land
Hong Kong Provisional Regional Council
The House of Commons, London
Hove Museum & Art Gallery, Sussex
Keble College, Oxford
Imperial War Museum, London
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle
Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds
Leicestershire Museums and Art Gallery
Liverpool University Art Gallery, Liverpool
Long Term Credit Bank of Japan, London
Los Angeles County Museum, USA
Magdalene College, Cambridge
The Mercer Gallery, Yorkshire
The Museum of London, London
The National Trust
Norwich City Art Gallery, Norwich
Pallant House Gallery, Chichester
Peterborough City Art Gallery, Peterborough
Peterhouse College, Cambridge
Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, Warwickshire
St. John's College, Cambridge
South Eastern Arts
Sussex University, Brighton
Swindon Art Gallery, Swindon
Tate Britain, London
Texaco Properties Ltd, London
Towner Gallery, Eastbourne
University College London
University of Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Warwick University, Warwick
Whitworth Museum, Manchester
Williams College Museum of Art, Massachusetts, USA
Worcester City Art Gallery, Worcester
Publications
Ackroyd, P. and Packer, W., Paintings of Petworth, Gillian Jason Gallery in association with The National Trust's Foundation for Art, 1994
Cork, R., French Cathedral Drawings by Dennis Creffield, Albemarle Gallery, 1991
Creffield, D., Harrison, M. and Kitaj, R. B., English Cathedrals, South Bank Centre, 1987
Dodd, P., Midsummer Night's Dream: Drawings and Paintings by Dennis Creffield, Goldmark, 1989
Hyman, J. and Creffield, D., Dennis Creffield. Jerusalem, London, 2011
Jacobson, H. and Morris, L., Dennis Creffield: A Retrospective, Flowers East, 2005
Martin, R., New Icons Christian Iconography in Contemporary Art, Craigie Aitchison, Stephen Cox, Dennis Creffield, Brian Falconbridge, Michael Finn, Peter Fraser etc..., Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre, 1989
Musson, J., Paintings & Drawings of Orford Ness, Connaught Brown in association with The National Trust's Foundation for Art, 1995
Parry-Crooke, C. and Lynton, N., eds., Contemporary British Artists with Photographs by Walia, London, 1979
Spreckley, S. and Wakelin, P., Dennis Creffield: Impressions of Castles, globegallery, Hay-on-Wye, 2002
1985
Looking into Paintings. 4 - Narrative, dir. Norbert Lynton, Channel 4
1989
The Invisible Recorder. Dennis Creffield at Three East Anglian Cathedrals, dir. Charles Mapleston, Anglia Television
1996
Summer Painting. Dennis Creffield at Salisbury Cathedral, dir. Carolyn Djanogly, Meridian Films