Graham Sutherland

Graham Sutherland (1903-1980) studied engraving at Goldsmiths College in London from 1920 until 1925. He turned to painting in the 1930s and quickly gained an international reputation. During World War II he was named an official war artist for Britain, an experience which shaped the remainder of his career. A convert to Roman Catholicism, he painted his first religious scenes in the late 1940s – images of Christ’s passion informed by and commenting on the horrors of the Holocaust. In the 1950's Sutherland found his strength in portrait painting. His many stays in southern France inspired his works in the 1960's. He designed the vast tapestry Christ in Glory installed in Coventry Cathedral in 1962. Labelled a Neo-Romantic, Sutherland belonged to no school but was regarded as a master in his own right. He participated in many exhibitions which confirm his international reputation, including the Documenta in Kassel in 1955, 1959 and 1964. He had an enormous impact on the next generation of artists in England.