Andrew Tift (born 1968) is a British realist portraitist.

Early life

Andrew Tift was born in 1968 in

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

, England.National Portrait Gallery: Andrew Tift
/ref> He was educated at the Stafford College of Art.National Portrait Gallery: BP Portrait Award 2006
/ref> He then graduated from the

University of Central England Birmingham City University (abbrev. BCU) is a university in Birmingham, England. Initially established as the Birmingham College of Art with roots dating back to 1843, it was designated as a polytechnic in 1971 and gained university status in ...

Career

He is a realist portraitist. In 1998, he did a portrait of

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabine ...

, a Labour Member of Parliament from 1950 to 2001.Art in Parliament: The Rt Hon Tony Benn MP, Andrew Tift
/ref> He also did a portrait of

Glenys Kinnock, Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead Glenys Elizabeth Kinnock, Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead, (; 7 July 1944 – 3 December 2023), was a British politician and teacher who served as Minister of State for Europe from June to October 2009 and Minister of State for Africa and the Uni ...

, who served as a Labour Member of the European Parliament from 1994 to 2009. His portrait of

Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English former politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was Local Government Act 1985, abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of Londo ...

, who served as the Labour Mayor of London from 2000 to 2008, has been exhibited at the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

since 2014.Mark Brown
Ken Livingstone: first painted portrait of former London mayor on display
''The Guardian'', 3 July 2014 He was also commissioned by the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

to do a portrait of

Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, Baron Carington of Upton (6 June 1919 – 9July 2018), was a British Conservative Party politician and hereditary peer who served as Secretary of State for Defence, Defence Secretary from ...

. He was the recipient of the BP Travel Award in 1995 for ''Sayonara Pet''. In 2006, he received the

BP Portrait Award The BP Portrait Award was an annual portraiture competition held at the National Portrait Gallery in London, England. It is the successor to the John Player Portrait Award. It is the most important portrait prize in the world, and is reputedly ...

for his

triptych A triptych ( ) is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all m ...

Kitty Garman Kathleen Eleonora "Kitty" Garman, later Kitty Epstein and Kitty Godley (27 August 1926 – 11 January 2011), was a British artist and muse. She was a model for her father Jacob Epstein, her first husband Lucian Freud (including ''Portrait of Kit ...

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. His early career as a painter was inf ...

's first wife, entitled ''Kitty''.David Ward
Tift triptych goes on show in artist's home town
''The Guardian'', 22 May 2007 The triptych is now at the New Art Gallery in Walsall.

Personal life

He resides in the West Midlands.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tift, Andrew Living people 1968 births Alumni of Birmingham Institute of Art and Design British painters British male painters People from Walsall