Joseph Gerard "Joe" Austen is a British artist, writer, producer and director from

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Since 1976, a collection of his paintings has been on display in The Gallery of Champions within the Rusacks Hotel,

.Art Gallery Virtual Tour - Joe Austen, Rusacks Hotel St Andrews
/ref> The Joe Austen gallery can be seen in full as an interactiv
virtual tour
For the 150th

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

in St. Andrews in 2010, six of golf's greatest champions were made Honorees of The Gallery of Champions when Austen painted their portraits. Those portraits are now a permanent part of the gallery. The honorees included

Tony Jacklin Anthony Jacklin CBE (born 7 July 1944) is an English golfer. He was the most successful British player of his generation, winning two major championships, the 1969 Open Championship and the 1970 U.S. Open. He was also Ryder Cup captain from ...

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Since embarking on a professional career in ...

Gary Player Gary James Player (born 1 November 1935) is a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. During his career, Player won nine major championships on the regular tour and nine ...

Sandy Lyle Alexander Walter Barr "Sandy" Lyle (born 9 February 1958) is a Scottish professional golfer. He has won two major championships during his career. Along with Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam, he became one of Britain's top golfers during the 1980s. ...

and

Roberto De Vicenzo Roberto De Vicenzo (14 April 1923 – 1 June 2017) was a professional golfer from Argentina. He won a record 229 professional tournaments worldwide during his career, including seven on the PGA Tour and most famously the 1967 Open Championship. ...

. De Vicenzo attended the opening of the gallery with Jacklin and Lyle, and commented on the day, "Joe Austen - your paintings will get you in to Heaven." In the Rusacks Hotel, Austen's painting collections are grouped into four separate categories; the Macdonald Collection, the Historical Collection, the Portraits of the Royal Captains and the most recently launched Tony Jacklin Ryder Cup Collection. The collections have been described as "portraits of golfing legends through the centuries",Visit St Andrews
/ref> and the gallery was selected as the central location for the inaugural St Andrews Golf Festival in 2012 to showcase the strong links between St Andrews and golf.

Career

Golf portraits

Tony Jacklin and Austen collaborated in 2014 to create The Tony Jacklin Ryder Cup Collection; a new series of hand-painted oil portraits and limited edition prints of those portraits, which Austen has said will "commemorate The Ryder Cup at

Gleneagles, Scotland Glen Eagles (Scottish Gaelic: Gleann na h-Eaglais/Gleann Eagas) is a glen that connects with Glen Devon to form a pass through the Ochil Hills of Perth and Kinross in Scotland. (The spelling as two words, 'Glen Eagles', is as shown on UK Or ...

in 2014" Jacklin, a "golfing icon" according to the European Tour selected what he believed to be the 20 greatest players in the history of the

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States, with hosting duties alternating between venues in Europe and the United States for each edition. The cup is named after the English businessman S ...

, and Austen painted their portraits. Limited edition prints of The Tony Jacklin Ryder Cup Collection have been available online since the

2014. In 2011, Austen's paintings were selected for the online launch of St Andrews Golf Art, a website which claims to offer "a unique selection of golf art from internationally-acclaimed contemporary artists, sculptors and illustrators" In 2010, Austen undertook a similar venture to The Tony Jacklin Ryder Cup Collection, in collaboration with

Rolex Rolex () is a Swiss watch brand and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by German businessman Hans Wilsdorf and his eventual brother-in-law Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex ...

. To commemorate the 150th year of The Open Championship,

commissioned Austen to paint a composite portrait of

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (; born January 21, 1940), nicknamed "the Golden Bear", is an American retired professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greate ...

, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, from which 250 Limited Edition Prints were produced. All of the prints were signed by Palmer, Player and Austen, and presented by

as gifts to valued clients. Austen's golf portraits are also exhibited in private and public collections throughout the world, including Palmer's Bay Hills Golf Club, and The Concession Golf Club in Florida,Golfers Guide - The Concession Golf Club Embrace the Experience
/ref> co-designed by Jacklin and Nicklaus. Within The Concession Golf Club, Austen's paintings of golfing champions and the spirit of the Ryder Cup, are displayed within the main hallways and are collectively titled The Concession Collection.

Portraits within the Gallery of Champions

The majority of Austen's paintings are on display in the Gallery of Champions, and the collections include the following paintings. *

Allan Robertson Allan Robertson (11 September 1815 – 1 September 1859) was considered to be one of the first professional golfers. Early years In the mid-19th century golf was played mainly by well-off gentlemen, as hand-crafted clubs and balls were expens ...

Ben Hogan William Ben Hogan (August 13, 1912 – July 25, 1997) was an American professional golfer who is generally considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He is notable for his profound influence on golf swing theory, hi ...

* Bobby Jones *

Gene Sarazen Gene Sarazen (; born Eugenio Saraceni, February 27, 1902 – May 13, 1999) was an American professional golfer, one of the world's top players in the 1920s and 1930s, and the winner of seven major championships. He is one of six players (alon ...

Harry Vardon Henry William Vardon (9 May 1870 – 20 March 1937) was a professional golfer from Jersey. He was a member of the Great Triumvirate with John Henry Taylor and James Braid. Vardon won The Open Championship a record six times, and also won the ...

* Henry Cotton *

* James Braid *

Johnny Miller John Laurence Miller (born April 29, 1947) is an American former professional golfer. He was one of the top players in the world during the mid-1970s. He was the first to shoot 63 in a major championship to win the 1973 U.S. Open, and he ran ...

John Henry Taylor John Henry "J.H." Taylor (19 March 1871 – 10 February 1963) was an English professional golfer and one of the pioneers of the modern game of golf. Taylor is considered to be one of the best golfers of all time. He was a significant golf cours ...

Lee Trevino Lee Buck Trevino (born December 1, 1939) is an American retired professional golfer who is regarded as one of the greatest players in golf history. He was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1981. Trevino won six major championships and ...

Old Tom Morris Thomas Mitchell Morris (16 June 1821 – 24 May 1908), otherwise known as Old Tom Morris, and The Grand Old Man of Golf, was a Scottish golfer. He was born in St Andrews, Fife, the "home of golf" and location of the St Andrews Links, and died ...

* Peter Thomson *

Sam Snead Samuel Jackson Snead (; May 27, 1912 – May 23, 2002) was an American professional golfer who was one of the top players in the world for the better part of four decades (having won PGA of America and Senior PGA Tour events over six decades) an ...

Seve Ballesteros Severiano Ballesteros Sota (; 9 April 1957 – 7 May 2011) was a Spanish professional golfer, a World No. 1 who was one of the sport's leading figures from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. A member of a gifted golfing family, he won 90 inte ...

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...

* Tom Watson *

Tom Weiskopf Thomas Daniel Weiskopf (November 9, 1942 – August 20, 2022) was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. His most successful decade was the 1970s. He won 16 PGA Tour titles between 1968 and 1982, incl ...

Walter Hagen Walter Charles Hagen (December 21, 1892 – October 6, 1969) was an American professional golfer and a major figure in golf in the first half of the 20th century. His tally of 11 professional Men's major golf championships, majors is third behin ...

Willie Auchterlonie William "Willie" Auchterlonie (7 August 1872 – 27 February 1963) was a Scottish professional golfer. Early life Auchterlonie was a native of St Andrews. Professional career He won the 1893 Open Championship at the age of and he remains ...

Young Tom Morris Thomas Morris (20 April 1851 – 25 December 1875), better known as Young Tom Morris, was a Scottish professional golfer. He is considered one of the pioneers of professional golf, and was the first young prodigy in golf history. He won four co ...

Children's television and book creations

''The Magic House''

Austen created, wrote and illustrated 24 books in the bestselling '' The Magic House'' series, which were published in 1985 by Richard Drew Publishing.Joe Austen Creative Portfolio
/ref> He went on to create and develop The Magic House television series for

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...

. It ran for three seasons from 1994 to 1996 and Austen was involved in every aspect of its creation, acting as writer, illustrator, designer and on-screen storyteller and presenter. Subsequently, ''The Magic House'' was developed into a puppet television series for the

ITV Network ITV, legally known as Channel 3, is a British free-to-air public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television network. It is branded as ITV1 in most of the UK except for central and northern Scotland, where it is b ...

. As writer, designer and associate producer of ''The Magic House'' television series, Austen wrote 55 scripts for three network series and designed the puppets, sets and cell-animated title sequences. He then created The Magic Bank Club for TSB Bank, based on ''The Magic House'', and aimed at promoting bank accounts for children. Austen went on to create, write, illustrate and present ''Joe and Co'', a Magic House spin-off, as a BBC television series. Following this, he was a writer, illustrator and co-presenter on the BBC ''Untied Shoelaces'' television series. After ''The Magic House'' book series had been out of print for a number of years, a ''Facebook'' group was created by fans in June 2010, called "Bring back the Magic House books (Joe Austen)" in an effort to have them reprinted, highlighting the dedication of his readers. In July 2014, the ''Facebook'' page had gathered 261 fans.

''Story Store''

''The Story Store''Signore Studios Blog - Artwork and Animation Reviews by Christopher Signore
/ref> is a concept for television and publishing developed by Austen.Joe Austen Creative Portfolio - Story Store
/ref> He went on to establish a new stop-frame model animation studio in central London in order to produce ''The Story Store'' television series for Carlton Television for the ITV Network in 1995. Austen developed the show and designed the puppets. He also directed the voice recordings of

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. He has received numerous awards and honours including four BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two Tony Awards. In 2005 he received the Socie ...

Rory Bremner Roderick Keith Ogilvy "Rory" Bremner,"Rory Bremner". '' Who Do You Think You Are?''. Wall to Wall for BBC One. 2 February 2009. No. 1, series 6. (born 6 April 1961) is a Scottish impressionist and comedian, noted for his work in political sati ...

and

Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...

. He went on to write and design four ''Story Store'' illustrated books.

Storyland Ltd.

In May 2001 Austen established Storyland Ltd.,C21 Media - Storyland wraps ITV Christmas Toon
/ref> a family entertainment company based in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

, with

Richard Attenborough Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough (; 29 August 192324 August 2014) was an English actor, film director, and Film producer, producer. Attenborough was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Acade ...

as company president. In 2001, the company bought back ownership of more than 60 programmes and two dozen books created by Austen for various broadcasters and publishers. These properties include 13 episodes of ''The Story Store'', previously owned and broadcast by Carlton, and 55 episodes of ''The Magic House'', which was developed for Scottish Television. Austen said at the time that Storyland had paid a six-figure sum to bring these and other properties back into its ownership. They formed the core of a wide range of family entertainment that Storyland intended to market through television, satellite, cable, publishing and new media of the time, such as broadband. During his time with Storyland, Austen produced a new ''Story Store Christmas Special'' for the ITV network in 2001, entitled ''Music & Moonlight'', which was broadcast on New Year's Day and featured the impressionist

as the voice behind more than half-a-dozen characters. Storyland was subsequently publicly listed and became Storyland PLC, before being dissolved in March 2014.Open Corporates
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Austen, Joe British artists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people