British Abstract Art | Paintings by Patrick Joseph Caulfield

Patrick Joseph Caulfield (1936-2005)

Painter and printmaker, born in Acton, West London who worked in commercial art before doing his National Service. After leaving school at fifteen he worked drilling gas rings in a factory before moving to the advertising department of Crosse & Blackwell, where he painted chocolates for display. During his National Service with the RAF he attended evening classes at Harrow Art School. After leaving the RAF, he continued his studies at Chelsea School of Art, 1956-60 where he studied under Lawrence Gowing and RCA, 1960-63 where he became one of the exponents of Pop Art. He began working with a consciously anonymous style, using an even black outline with flat colours, to emphasise the sarcasm in his presentation of cliché subjects. He taught at Chelsea School of Art, 1963-71.

In 1964 Caulfield was included in the New Generation exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery and this art form won him the Prix des Jeunes Artistes for graphic design at the 4th Biennale des Jeunes in Paris, 1965. In 1965 he had his first solo exhibition, at the Robert Fraser Gallery and during the following year he had his first overseas solo exhibition, at the Robert Elkon Gallery in Manhattan, New York. He also exhibited at the Waddington Galleries, Howard Roberts Gallery, Cardiff and in the early 1990’s he designed a stained glass window, Paper Moon, for The Ivy restaurant in London, and a large carpet for the atrium of the British Council building in Manchester.

A retrospective exhibition was held at the WAG in Liverpool and at the Tate Gallery, London in 1981 and he was elected RA in 1993. Appointed CBE in 1996, he enjoyed a second major retrospective at the Hayward Gallery in 1999. Examples of his work are in public galleries, museums and collection around the world. These include the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, ACGB, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, BMAG, BC, Doncaster Art Gallery, Lancaster University Art Gallery, Leamington Spa Art Gallery, Norwich Castle Museum, Manchester City Art Gallery, NMW, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, SNGMA, Edinburgh, Tate Gallery, University of Warwick Art Collection, Ulster Museum, Belfast, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester and the V&.

Bibliography: Patrick Caulfield: Painting 1963-81. A catalogue of an exhibition held at the Tate Gallery, London and at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 1981. ISBN 0905005236.

Patrick Caulfield: The Complete Prints 1964-1999 edited by Alan Cristea with a forward by Mel Gooding. Published by Alan Cristea Gallery, London, 1999. ISBN 0953483908.

Patrick Caulfield: Paintings by Marco Livingstone. Published by Lund Humphries, London, 2005. ISBN 0853319170.

With thanks to artbiogs.co.uk