‘Self Portrait’. Image: National Portrait Gallery/Art UK
Tony Bevan, figurative painter, was born in Bradford in 1951. He studied at Bradford School of Art between 1968-71, then in London at Goldsmiths’ College, 1971-74, and the Slade, 1974-76. Since 1976 he has exhibited his work in London, Cardiff, West Germany, Poland, Sydney and New York.
Bevan’s work often focuses on the heads of solitary male figures, frequently using himself as the subject, in attitudes of apprehension and vulnerability. In recent years he has also depicted architectural subjects.
Important exhibitions to date have included his solo shows at the ICA in 1987; Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, in 1993; and the Tony Bevan Self-Portraits exhibition in the National Gallery, 2011. In 2003 he has had two important museum shows, one at Abbot Hall Gallery in Cumbria and the other at the Milton Keynes Gallery. Michael Hue-Williams Fine Art in London’s Cork Street showed his work in 2003, accompanied by a catalogue with an interview by Marco Livingstone. During 2016-17, Cartwright Hall, Bradford staged a major exhibition of his work.
His work is now exhibited at over 30 galleries world wide and can be viewed at Cartwright Hall, Bradford, and other North England collections at Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, and the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.
Bibliography:
Tony Bevan: Paintings 1980-87 (exhibition cat., essay M. Cullingworth, London, ICA, 1987)
The Meeting: Tony Bevan (exhibition cat., and essay P. Wollen, London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1993)
Tony Bevan (exhibition cat., and essay by M. Livingstone, London, Michael Hue-Williams F.A., 1998)
Tony Bevan Paintings and Drawings (exhibition cat., essay R. Cork, London, Michael Hue-Williams F.A., 2000)
Website: Tony Bevan
Image copyright : from Tony Bevan website (see above)
Additional reading: Tony Bevan talks about his motivation to become a painter at My Art