Laetitia Yhap (born 1 May 1941) is an English artist, best known for intricate paintings of fishermen on Stade Beach in

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

and for not painting on traditional canvas. She is of Chinese and Austrian heritage.

Family and education

Yhap was born on 1 May 1941 in the city of

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. Her father was Leshe Neville Yhap, a Chinese medical student, and her mother was Elizabeth Yhap (''née'' Kogler), an Austrian

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

refugee. Yhap studied at the

Camberwell School of Art Camberwell College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art and design university in London, England. The college offers further and higher education programmes, including postgraduate and PhD awards. ...

and the

Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

. She was awarded a Leverhulme Travel Scholarship which she used to travel to Italy to research

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

art and architecture. She also studied

Chinese calligraphy Chinese calligraphy is the writing of Chinese characters as an art form, combining purely Visual arts, visual art and interpretation of the literary meaning. This type of expression has been widely practiced in China and has been generally held ...

for four years. She moved to Hasting, Sussex, in 1967.

Career

After graduating, Yhap first painted in an abstract style. She submitted a painting to an open exhibition called Young Contemporaries, and was referenced in an art critics review for ''The'' ''Daily Telegraph''. Her first solo exhibition was held at the

Piccadilly Gallery The Piccadilly Gallery was a London-based art gallery that operated from 1953 until 2007. The gallery was founded in 1953 as the Pilkington Gallery by art dealer Godfrey Pilkington and his wife, Eve. Christabel Briggs joined as a partner in 19 ...

in London in 1968. Yhap is best known for intricate paintings of the beach landscape and working fishermen on Stade Beach in Hastings, which she began painting in 1974. Her work is never painted on traditional canvas, as "I disliked canvas and the way its weave affected the brush stroke." Her surfaces instead incorporate driftwood and rope. Yhap is also known for portraiture. Her work is held in the permanent collections of the

Hastings Museum and Art Gallery Hastings Museum & Art Gallery is a museum and art gallery located in, Hastings, East Sussex, England. Established in 1892, it originally resided in the Brassey Institute (now the town's library), but moved to its current location in 1927. it ...

, the

Tate Gallery 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 ...

, the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

and the

New Hall Art Collection The Women's Art Collection (before 2022, the New Hall Art Collection) is a permanent collection of modern and contemporary art by women artists, at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge (previously New Hall), England. It includes over 600 works b ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. Retrospective exhibitions of her work have been held in England and China. In 2020, the Yanlan Arts and Culture Foundation in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China, hosted ''Laetitia Yhap: Longings and Belonging''. In 2021, Hastings Museum and Art Gallery hosted the exhibition ''My Vital Life – Laetitia Yhap at 80'', in celebration of the life, work and eightieth birthday.

Personal life

Yhap's partner was Michael Rycroft and they had a son, Ajax. She was previously married to the painter Jeffrey Camp RA.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yhap, Laetitia 1941 births Living people 20th-century English women artists 21st-century English women artists Alumni of Camberwell College of Arts Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Artists from Hertfordshire English marine artists English people of Austrian descent English people of Chinese descent People from St Albans