Peter Edwards, (born 20 November 1955), is a British painter. He won the 1994

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 ...

Early career

In 1980 he exhibited a small self-portrait in the

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition The Summer Exhibition is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the months of June, July, and August. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, sc ...

. The painting was bought by the art collector, Sir

Brinsley Ford Sir Richard Brinsley Ford (10 June 1908 – 4 May 1999) was a British art historian, scholar, and collector. He inherited a large collection of art from his family and was himself an avid collector. A drawing that he purchased in 1936 was sold ...

. In 1986 his portrait of The Liverpool Poets was purchased by 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 ...

. His continuing involvement with the gallery and Robin Gibson then 20th Century Curator (later Chief Curator) led to a major one-man exhibition and tour in the Gallery in April 1990 "Contemporary Poets", which consisted of 17 large canvasses of 20 poets, alongside a poem from each poet, numerous studies, and a series of Saturday morning readings from

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish Irish poetry, poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is ''Death of a Naturalist'' (1966), his first m ...

, Douglas Dunn, Charles Causley,

Wendy Cope Wendy Cope (born 21 July 1945) is a contemporary English poet. She read history at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She now lives in Ely, Cambridgeshire, with her husband, the poet Lachlan Mackinnon. Biography Cope was born in Erith in Kent (now ...

, and

Craig Raine Craig Anthony Raine, FRSL (born 3 December 1944) is an English contemporary poet. Along with Christopher Reid, he is a pioneer of Martian poetry, a movement that expresses alienation with the world, society and objects. He was a fellow of New C ...

. On 30 July 1991,

Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He captained West Ham United for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England national team that won the 1966 FIFA ...

unveiled Edwards' portrait of

Bobby Charlton Sir Robert Charlton (11 October 1937 – 21 October 2023) was an English professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, left winger or centre-forward. Widely considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member ...

in the National Portrait Gallery, Sponsored by

British Gas plc British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving ...

, it marked the 25th anniversary of England winning the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

. He later painted

Ryan Giggs Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; born 29 November 1973) is a Welsh football coach, former player and co-owner of Salford City. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, and one of the best wingers in the history of footba ...

for the National Library of Wales. In 1993 he exhibited in The Portrait Now show. In 1994 he won the

with ''Portrait of an Artist's Model'' (of Marguerite Kelsey). She had been the model of choice, in the inter-war years, for many leading artists, including Meredith Frampton. This award led to his

commission In-Commission or commissioning may refer to: Business and contracting * Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered ** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anot ...

to paint

Kazuo Ishiguro is a Japanese-born English novelist, screenwriter, musician, and short-story writer. He is one of the most critically acclaimed contemporary fiction authors writing in English, having been awarded several major literary prizes, including the 2 ...

, which was unveiled the following summer in the National Portrait Gallery by Ismail Merchant.

Public collections

, London. 6 works. The portraits are of: Adrian Henri,

Roger McGough Roger Joseph McGough (; born 9 November 1937) is an English poet, performance poet, broadcaster, children's author and playwright. He presents the BBC Radio 4 programme '' Poetry Please'', as well as performing his own poetry. McGough was one ...

, Brian Patten, (triple portrait known as) The Liverpool Poets.

John Heath-Stubbs John Francis Alexander Heath-Stubbs (9 July 1918 – 26 December 2006) was an English poet and translator. He is known for verse influenced by classical myths, and for a long Arthurian poem, "Artorius" (1972). Biography and works Heath-Stubbs ...

Willy Russell William Russell (born 23 August 1946) is an English dramatist, lyricist and composer. His best known works are '' Educating Rita'', '' Shirley Valentine'', '' Blood Brothers'' and '' Our Day Out''. Early life Russell was born in Whiston, Lanc ...

, Sir Bobby Charlton, and

. *

The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the third-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. With 5.36 million v ...

, New York of the British Poet Peter Reading, and

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

poet Vahé Oshagan. * National Museum Wales, painting of Tyrone O'Sullivan. *

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasures ...

, Belfast, painting of

Michael Longley Michael George Longley (27 July 1939 – 22 January 2025) was a Northern Irish poet. In his later years Longley observed: "It's a mystery where poems come from. If I knew where poems came from I would go there ... When I write a poem I am movi ...

. *

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales (, ) in Aberystwyth is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the l ...

, 6 works *

St Andrews University The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, t ...

, portrait of Principal Struther Arnott *

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

Warwick University The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of a ...

, painting of Sir

Christopher Zeeman Sir Erik Christopher Zeeman FRS (4 February 1925 – 13 February 2016), was a British mathematician, known for his work in geometric topology and singularity theory. Overview Zeeman's main contributions to mathematics were in topology, partic ...

* Ferens Gallery, Hull *

National Museums Liverpool National Museums Liverpool, formerly National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool in Merseyside, England. All the museums and galleries in the group have free admission. The mu ...

portrait of Willy Russell * Williamson Art Gallery, Birkenhead * Moma Wales, Sir Kyffyn Williams, Ruth Lambert * St George's Hospital, London *

Sheffield University The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Firth College in 1879 ...

Portraits of Sir Peter Middleton and Sir Harry Kroto *

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

portraits of Sir Martin Harris and Alan Gilbert *

University of Gloucestershire The University of Gloucestershire is a public university based in Gloucestershire, England. It is located over five campuses, three in Cheltenham and two in Gloucester. The university is the successor of a large number of merged, name-changed ...

portraits of

, Kit Wright, Maud Sulter an
Vuyelwa Carlin

Bibliography

*''The National Portrait Gallery Collection'', 1988. Page 203 colour illustration ''The Liverpool Poets'' Oil on canvass, 175.9 x 237.5 By Peter Edwards, 1985 (5853) *''Contemporary Poets, Portraits By Peter Edwards, A National portrait Gallery Exhibition'', 1990. "Foreword" by Robin Gibson Curator 20th Century Collection.
view
*'' The Portrait Now'', National Portrait Gallery, 1993. Page 52. *''drawings paintings and sculptures, the catalogue''. Published by the museums and galleries of Northern Ireland. . Page 247 Portrait of Michael Longley b.1939 (1989–1990) U4825 *''Royal Academy Illustrated 1996, A Souvenir of the 228th Summer Exhibition''. Page 10, Peter Edwards ''Self Portrait'' Oil 7 × 5 ins.

References

External links

*
National Portrait Gallery – Peter EdwardsArtist's website.The works of Peter Edwards on Art UKNational Museum WalesMetropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkEdwards as sitter in The National Portrait GalleryAdrian Henri website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Peter 1955 births Living people People from Denbighshire People educated at Oswestry School British portrait painters 20th-century British painters British male painters 21st-century British painters BP Portrait Award winners People from Chirk People from Oswestry 20th-century British male artists 21st-century British male artists