Basil Beattie RA (born 1935) is a British artist, whose work revolves around

abstraction Abstraction is a process where general rules and concepts are derived from the use and classifying of specific examples, literal (reality, real or Abstract and concrete, concrete) signifiers, first principles, or other methods. "An abstraction" ...

and is known for its emotive and gestural forms. Born in

West Hartlepool West Hartlepool was a predecessor of Hartlepool, County Durham, England. It developed in the Victorian era and took the name from its western position in the parish of what is now known as the Headland. The former town was originally formed ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, Beattie attended the West Hartlepool College of Art from 1950 until 1955. He continued his education at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

schools from 1957 until 1961. He then began a long teaching career: during the 1980s and 1990s, Beattie taught at

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a Member institutions of the University of London, constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The G ...

in London. He retired from the role in 1998, spending a further year as assessor at the

Chelsea School of Art Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art and design university in London, England. It offers further and higher education courses in fine art, graphic design, interior design, produ ...

. Beattie's unusual use of hieroglyphs with signs and characters arranged in a cellular format was displayed with a 1986 production called ''Legend''. 10 ft by 12 ft its originality and multi-layered appearance was a hallmark of a painter who had many one-man solo exhibitions, as well as the normal group shows, including a significant event at Curwen Gallery in 1990. He was shortlisted for the Jerwood Painting Prize in both 1998 and 2001, in addition to the Charles Woolaston Prize in 2000. An exhibition of paintings produced from the 1990s was held at

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...

in 2007 and his works are part of the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

permanent collection. Beattie lived in the 1970s with Mavis Cheek, later a successful novelist, and has a daughter by her.''Observer'' interview with Cheek, 3 March 2002
Retrieved 2 April 2012.
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References

* F Spalding, ''British Dictionary of Art'', vol.VI (Antique Collectors Club, 1990)

External links

* 1935 births Living people Academics of Chelsea College of Arts Academics of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of the Royal Academy Schools Artists from County Durham British contemporary painters People from West Hartlepool Royal Academicians English contemporary artists {{UK-painter-20thC-stub