Albert Irvin, Spring II 2011, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 in / 60 x 60 cm
2nd May – 15th June Gimpel Fils 30 Davies Street London W1K 4NB www.gimpelfils.com
Gimple Fils is showing a great two person exhibition of paintings by Royal Academicians Alan Davie and Albert Irvin.
Born in Scotland in 1920, Alan Davie’s first solo show at Gimpel Fils took place in 1950. In 1963 he was awarded the prize for Best Foreign Painter at the 7th São Paulo Bienal, where the British Council exhibited a solo display of 17 paintings. He was awarded a CBE in 1972 in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. His last major retrospective exhibition was staged at The Tate St. Ives in 2003-4. Other exhibitions of Alan Davie’s artwork include The Barbican Art Gallery, London (1993), The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (1997), COBRA Museum, Amstelveen (2001). His work can be found in numerous international public collections including Tate Modern, London; The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and Museu de Arte Contemporanea, São Paulo.
Albert Irvin RA was born in 1922 in London, where he continues to live and work. In the early 1940’s, Irvin attended Northampton School of Art. His studies were interrupted when he was called up, serving as a navigator in the Royal Air Force during the war. After being discharged, he enrolled at Goldsmiths College in London. Much later, in 1962, Irvin returned to Goldsmiths, where he taught for twenty years. Irvin has exhibited extensively throughout Europe and in Australia. His first solo show at Gimpel Fils took place in 1982. His works are in many public collections, including The Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney; the British Council; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Manchester City Art Gallery; Tate Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
