Peter de Francia, b.1921

Peter de Francia


1921
Born, Beaulieu, Alpes Maritimes, France
Education: Academy of Brussels

1938-40
Slade School, University of London

1945-48
Appointments: Canadian Government Exhibition Commission, Ottawa

1949-50
Architects’ Department, American Museum, New York

1951
Head of Fine Art Programming, BBC Television

1952-54
Department of Art History and Complementary Studies, St Martin’s School of Art, London

1954-61
Department of Art History and Complementary Studies, Royal College of Art, London
Principal, Department of Fine Art, Goldsmiths College, University of London

1970-72
Professor of Painting (postgraduate), Royal College of Art, London

1972-1986
DAAD Fellowship, Berlin

1990
Visiting Professor, Baroda

1991
Visiting tutor, New York Studio School and School of Fine Art, Nicosia.

2003-6
The Bombing of Sakiet on display at Tate Modern


Selected Solo Exhibitions


2008
Modern Myths, New York Studio School (catalogue), New York

2007-8
The Ship of Fools: Peter de Francia in Focus, Pallant House, Chichester

2006
Peter de Francia, Tate Britain (brochure, interview by Philip Dodd), London


2005
After the Bombing, James Hyman Gallery, London


2004
Drawings, The Gallery, Wimbledon School of Art, London

2002
Peter de Francia: Fables and Other Drawings: 1990-2001, Queen’s Gallery, British Council, New Delhi, India

1999
Peter de Francia: Drawings, Ruskin School, Oxford

Peter de Francia: Ballets Africains: Drawings, The Place, London

1996
Peter de Francia: Drawings 1993-96, Austin/Desmond Fine Art, London

1995
Peter de Francia, Gloria Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus

1991
Peter de Francia, Centre for Contemporary Art, New Delhi, India

1987
Peter de Francia: Paintings and drawings, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield

1989
Peter de Francia: Untitled, Frith Street Gallery, London

1990
Peter de Francia, Pomeroy Purdy Gallery, London

1987
Peter de Francia: Retrospective, Camden Arts Centre, London

1983
Peter de Francia, Forum Gallery, New York

1980
Peter de Francia, New Art Centre, London

1978
Peter de Francia, Gallery of the Institute of Cultural Relations, Budapest, Hungary

1977
Peter de Francia: Retrospective, Camden Arts Centre, London & New 57 Gallery, Edinburgh

1976
Peter de Francia, New Art Centre, London

1969
Peter de Francia, New 57 Gallery, Edinburgh

1962
Peter de Francia, Forum Gallery, New York

1962
Peter de Francia, Gallery of the Union of Czech Writers, Prague

1961
Peter de Francia, Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

1959
Peter de Francia, Colonna Gallery, Milan, Italy

1958
Peter de Francia, Waddington Galleries, London (catalogue)

Peter de Francia, Colonna Gallery, Milan, Italy


Selected Group Exhibitions


2007
A tribute to Sir Colin St John Wilson, James Hyman Gallery, London

2006-7
Home and Away, James Hyman, London

2006
Portraits, James Hyman Gallery, London

Drawing Breath, to mark 10 years of the Jerwood Drawing Prize, The Gallery, Wimbledon College of Art, London

National Art School Galleries, Sydney, Australia,

Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

Aberdeen Foyer/Robert Gray University

2006
Drawing Inspiration, Abbot Hall Art Gallery/Lakeland Arts Trust, Kendal (catalogue)

Portraits: Andrews, Auerbach, Bevan, Coldstream, de Francia, Freud, Kossoff, Moynihan, Paolozzi, James Hyman Gallery, London

Wilson Gift, Pallant House, Chichester

New Directions: Paintings and drawings from the 1950s and 1960s by Michael Andrews, Peter de Francia, Derrick Greaves and Robert Medley, James Hyman Gallery, London

2004
Drawn Together (five artists), Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London

1997
Modern British Art: The first hundred years, Pallant House, Chichester

2000        
Carnivalesque, Hayward Gallery, London/Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, national touring exhibition, Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery, City Art Centre, Edinburgh

1989
Blasphemies, Ecstasies, Cries, Serpentine Gallery, London

School of London: Works on paper, Odette Gilbert Gallery, London

1987
Human Interest, Cornerhouse, Manchester and Arts Council tour

Art History: Artists look at contemporary Britain, Hayward Gallery, London

1985-6
In Their Circumstances, Usher Art Gallery, Lincoln, Ashley Gallery, Epsom, Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery, Crawford Centre for the Arts, University of St Andrew’s, Peter Scott Gallery, University of Lancaster, Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston-upon-Hull

1984
The Forgotten Fifties, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield and Camden Arts Centre, London

1983
Britain salutes New York, 3 British artists, Carole Robb, Peter de Francia, Thomas Newbolt, Forum Art Gallery, New York

1982
The Hayward Annual, British Drawing, Hayward Gallery, London

The Subjective Eye: New tendencies in British figurative art, University Gallery, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

1980
British Art 1940-1980 (Arts Council Collection), Hayward Gallery, London

1979-80
Narrative Painting, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London

Arnolfini, Bristol, City Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on- Trent, Fruit Market Gallery, Edinburgh

1977
British Painting 1952-1977, Royal Academy of Arts, London (catalogue)

1976
20^th-Century Drawing, Marlborough Gallery, London

The Human Clay, Hayward Gallery, London (catalogue)

1975
Body and Soul, Peter Moores Liverpool Project 3, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

1966
Survey ’66, Figurative Painters, Hampstead Art Centre, London (catalogue)

1964
Pittsburgh International, Pittsburgh, USA

1956
Looking Forward 2, South London Art Gallery

1952
Looking Forward, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London


Selected Collections


Arts Council of Great Britain

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

British Council, New Delhi

British Museum, London

Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield

Imperial War Museum, London

Museum of Modern Art, New York

Museum of Modern Art, Prague

National Portrait Gallery, London

Pallant House, Chichester, Wilson Gift

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

Tate, London

Ulster Museum, Belfast

Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Wimbledon School of Art


Selected Publications


de Francia, P., Impressionism, Methuen & Co., 1959.

de Francia, P., & Leger, F., Painters On Painting - Peter De Francia On Leger's 'The Great Parade', Cassell, 1969.

de Francia, P., Peter de Francia: Fables, Maruts Press, 2002.

de Francia, P., Peter de Francia Portraits, James Hyman Fine Art, 2006.

de Francia, P., Holub, M., Peter de Francia, J. Milner & I. Milner (trans.), Frith Street Gallery, 1989.

de Francia, P., & Willett, J., Peter de Francia: Drawings 1993-96, Austin/Desmond Fine Art, 1996.

Hyman, J., Peter de Francia: After the Bombing, James Hyman Gallery, 2005.