Derrick Greaves, b.1927

Derrick Greaves


1927        
Born in Sheffield

1943-48        
Apprenticed as a sign-writer

1950
Married Margaret Johnson

1948-52        
Studied at the Royal College of Art

1952-54        
Abbey Major Scholarships to study in Italy

1954-64        
Taught part-time at St Martin’s School of Art, London.

1956
Represented Britain at the Venice Biennale (with John Bratby, Edward Middleditcg and Jack Smith)

1957        
Visited USSR. Awarded Gold Medal for painting at Moscow Youth Festival.
Awarded prize at John Moore’s Exhibition, Liverpool.

1960s        
Taught part-time at Maidstone College of Art and Royal Academy Schools.

1962
Awarded purchase prize in Belfast Open Painting Exhibition.

1979        
Visited Israel with nine other British artists to produce work for ‘Israel Observed’ project.

1983-91        
Head of Printmaking at Norwich School of Art.

1994
Married Sally Butler


Selected Solo Exhibitions

2008
Derrick Greaves: White Ground and Other Recent Paintings, James Hyman Gallery, London

2007
Derrick Greaves: From Kitchen-Sink to Shangri-La, James Hyman Gallery, London

2006
Pop Classical: Derrick Greaves Paintings from the 1970s, James Hyman Gallery, London

2005
Derrick Greaves: The Pleasures of Drawing, James Hyman Gallery, London

2003
Derrick Greaves Paintings and Drawings 1952-2002, James Hyman Fine Art, London

2002        
Derrick Greaves: Six Decades of Painting, Wingfield Arts Centre, Wingfield, Suffolk

2000        
Derrick Greaves: Collage Drawings, Chappel Gallery, Chappel

1999        
Derrick Greaves: Drawing for Paintings, School House Gallery, Wighton

1997        
Derrick Greaves, King of Hearts Gallery, Norwich

Derrick Greaves, Hart Gallery, Islington

1996        
Derrick Greaves, Gallerie Daniel Wahrenberger, Zurich, Switzerland

1992        
Derrick Greaves, King of Hearts Gallery, Norwich

1986        
Derrick Greaves, Forty from Ten, Loughborough and tour

1980        
Derrick Greaves: Retrospective Exhibition of Prints 1969-1980, Leicester Museum and Art Gallery

Derrick Greaves, Fischer Fine Art, London

Derrick Greaves: Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings 1953-1980, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield

1978
Derrick Greaves, Monika Kinley, London

Derrick Greaves, City Gallery, Milton Keynes

Derrick Greaves, Cranfield Institute of Technology

1977
Derrick Greaves, Monika Kinley, London

Derrick Greaves, City Gallery, Milton Keynes

1976
Derrick Greaves, Monika Kinley, London

Derrick Greaves, City Gallery, Milton Keynes

1975
Derrick Greaves, Monika Kinley, London

Derrick Greaves, City Gallery, Milton Keynes

1974
Derrick Greaves, Monika Kinley, London

1973
Derrick Greaves, Bear Lane Gallery, Oxford

Derrick Greaves, Whitechapel Gallery, London

Derrick Greaves, Monika Kinley, London

1972
Derrick Greaves, Arts Council Gallery, Belfast

Derrick Greaves, David Hendricks Gallery, Dublin

1971
Derrick Greaves, Institute of Contemporary Art, London

1970        
Derrick Greaves, Bear Lane Gallery, Oxford

Derrick Greaves, Galleria La Citta, Verona, Italy

Derrick Greaves, Galleria La Citta, Padua, Italy

1969
Derrick Greaves, Institute of Contemporary Art, London

1963
Derrick Greaves, Zwemmer Gallery, London

1962        
Derrick Greaves, Zwemmer Gallery, London        

1960
Derrick Greaves, Zwemmer Gallery, London

1958        
Derrick Greaves, Zwemmer Gallery, London

1955        
Derrick Greaves, Beaux Arts Gallery, London

1953        
Derrick Greaves, Beaux Arts Gallery, London


Selected Group Exhibitions


2007
The Flower of Life, James Hyman Gallery, London

2006
Home and Away, James Hyman Gallery, London

Portraits, James Hyman Gallery, London

New Directions. Paintings 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

1996        
Private Views, Contact Gallery, Norwich
        
Flowers in May, King of Hearts Gallery, Norwich

1994        
Kitchen Sink and Other Drawings of the Fifties, Mayor Gallery, London

1993        
Christmas Exhibition, King of Hearts Gallery, Norwich

Summer Exhibition, The Royal Academy, London

New Norfolk Drawings, King’s Lynn Arts Centre

Open Exhibition, King’s Lynn Arts Centre

1992        
Summer Exhibition, The Royal Academy, London

1991        
The Kitchen Sink Painters, Mayor Gallery, London
        
Norfolk Portfolio, Castle Museum, Norwich

Summer Exhibition, The Royal Academy, London
        
The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London        

1990        
Summer Exhibition, The Royal Academy, London

1989        
Summer Exhibition, The Royal Academy, London

Portrait of the Artist, The Tate Gallery

1988        
Summer Exhibition, The Royal Academy, London

1987        
150th Anniversary Exhibition of Printmaking, Royal College of Art, London

Within these Shores - A Selection of Works from the Chantrey Bequest 1883 - 1985, Tate Gallery, London

1986        
Generations Apart, Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield

1984        
British Artists’ Books 1970-1983, Atlantis Gallery
        
The Forgotten Fifties, travelling exhibition.

1980        
The British Art Show, recent paintings and sculpture by 112 artists selected by William Packer, toured Sheffield, Newcastle and Bristol

1981        
Israel Observed, Mall Galleries, London

1981        
Books and Folios, Arts Council Touring Exhibition

1978         
Exposicion International de la Plastica, Chile

1977        
British Painting 1952-77, Royal Academy, London

1974        
British Painting ‘74, Haymarket Gallery, London

1969        
John Moore’s Exhibition, Liverpool

1964        
Carnegie International Exhibition, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

1963        
British Painting in the 60s, Whitechapel Gallery, London

1961        
John Moore’s Exhibition, Liverpool

1960        
Guggenheim Selection, Pittsburgh / London

1959        
John Moore’s Exhibition, Liverpool

1957        
John Moore’s Exhibition, Liverpool

Looking at People, Pushkin Museum, Moscow, Russia

1956        
Contemporary Arts Society, London

Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy


Selected Collections


Arts Council Collection
Bank of Ireland, Dublin
Bernado Collection, Sintra, Portugal
British Council
British Museum Collection
Castle Museum, Norwich
Chantrey Bequest
City of Milton Keynes Collection
Contemporary Arts Society
Cranfield College of Technology
Department of the Environment
Government Art Collection
Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield
IBM, New York
Johannesburg Public Gallery
Leeds Art Gallery
Leicestershire County Collection
Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin
New York Public Library
Norfolk Contemporary Arts Association
North Wales Association of Arts
Northwestern University, Chicago
Pembroke College, Oxford
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
Public Gallery, Adelaide, South Australia
Reading Art Gallery
Southampton Art Gallery
Tate Collection, London
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Wesleyan University, Chicago


Selected Publications


British Painting 1952 - 1977, Royal Academy, Catalogue, 1977.

The British Art Show, Recent Paintings and Sculpture by 112 Artists Selected by William Packer, toured Sheffield, Newcastle and Bristol, Catalogue, 1980.

Derrick Greaves, Paintings 1953 - 80, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, Catalogue, 1980.

Israel Observed, An Exhibition by 10 British Artists’, Catalogue, 1981.

Books and Folios, Arts Council Touring Exhibition, Catalogue, 1981.

British Artists’ Books 1970-83, Atlantis Gallery, Catalogue, 1984.

The Forgotten Fifties, Catalogue, 1984.

Derrick Greaves - Forty from Ten, Loughborough and tour, Catalogue with text by Peter Wheeler, 1986.

150th Anniversary Exhibition of Printmaking from the Royal College, Catalogue, 1987.

Exhibition Road - Painters at the Royal College of Art, Phaidon-Christie’s Ltd, 1988.

Portrait of the Artist, Tate Gallery Publications, 1989.

Within these Shores - A Selection of Works from the Chantrey Bequest 1883 - 1985, The Tate Gallery Publications, Catalogue, 1989.

The Kitchen Sink Painters, Mayor Gallery, London, Catalogue, 1993.

New Norfolk Drawings, King’s Lynn Arts Centre, Catalogue with text by Elspeth Barker, 1993.

The Kitchen Sink School, Arts Review, 1994.

Except the Kitchen Sink, Derrick Greaves, Arts Review, June 1994.

Kitchen Sink and other drawings of the Fifties, Mayor Gallery, London, Catalogue with text by Gail-Nina Anderson, 1994.

The Artist’s Eye, Arts Review, 1997.

Artist’s Profiles - Derrick Greaves, Print Making Today, 1997.

The Battle for Realism, James Hyman, Yale University Press, 2001

Derrick Greaves: From Kitchen-Sink to Shangri-La, Lund Humphries, 2007.


Artists Books and Folios


‘Also’, Seven screenprints with text by Roy Fisher, published by Tetrad Press, London 1972.

‘The Songs of Bilitis’, Suite of 25 screenprints, published by the Artist, 1977.

‘The Sower as Self-Portrait, Homage to Van Gogh’, A portfolio of screenprints and etchings, published by the Artist, 1986.

‘Sanskrit Love Poems’, Nine screenprints with text, published by Tetrad Press, 1987.

Artist Statement
Derrick Greaves (b.1927) is one of the most important British painters of the last half century. Greaves initially gained acclaim in the 1950s, when he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale along with the other 'Kitchen-Sink' painters with whom he was associated: John Bratby, Edward Middleditch and Jack Smith.

His work has developed from the social realism of the 1950s to a more heraldic style that paralleled 1960s Pop Art, from an imagery based on nature and observable fact to more studio-bound imaginative constructs.

Derrick Greaves is represented by James Hyman Gallery