Valerie Wiffen

Last updated

Valerie Wiffen ARCA (born 1943) is a London-based British artist who is best known for her portraiture. [1]

Contents

Biography

Wiffen was born in Danbury, Essex in 1943 and received her art education and training at South West Essex Technical College and School of Art, [2] and then the Royal College of Art Painting School, London, where she studied under Sandra Blow, Jean Bratby, Mary Fedden, Ruskin Spear, Carel Weight, Peter Blake and Ken Howard. Wiffen won the Royal College of Art Drawing Prize in 1966 on her graduation. She is an ARCA (an associate of the Royal College of Art).

Wiffen's notable portrait commissions include The Duke of Edinburgh [3] [4] which is in the collection of the Board of Deputies and Dr Carey, when he was Archbishop of Canterbury, with Mrs Carey. She has work in various public collections such as her portraits of Sir Sigmund Sternberg [5] (1998) [6] which is in the National Portrait Gallery; Sir Gavyn Arthur as Lord Mayor of London which is in the Guildhall Art Gallery; Margaret Beckett MP, a presentation from the Jain community; the High Commissioner for India Dr LM Singhvi, in the collection of the Bhavan Centre for Indian Music; and her portrait of Rabbi Dr Louis Jacobs [7] is in the Jewish Museum, London.

Solo exhibitions

Selected work in group shows and national collections

1972 - Liverpool Bluecoat Gallery
1963 - 1966 inclusions in the annual exhibition of the New English Art Club
1996 - Inclusion in the annual exhibition of the New English Art Club
1963 - 1997 numerous inclusions in the summer exhibition of Royal Academy of Arts, London
1994 - 2000 present, annual inclusions in the tutor's show at West Dean Summer School
1998 - London School of Economics
2000 - National Portrait Gallery (permanent collection)
2017 - HUMAN group show, The German Embassy, London

Publications

Wiffen has written various books on drawing including Collins Learn to Draw – Still Life [12] and Figure Sketching School: The Essential Step-by-step Guide to Sketching Accurate Life-like Figures (Reader's Digest). [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Sickert</span> British artist (1860–1942)

Walter Richard Sickert was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the mid and late 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leon Underwood</span> British artist

George Claude Leon Underwood was a British artist, although primarily known as a sculptor, printmaker and painter, he was also an influential teacher and promotor of African art. His travels in Mexico and West Africa had a substantial influence on his art, particularly on the representation of the human figure in his sculptures and paintings. Underwood is best known for his sculptures cast in bronze, carvings in marble, stone and wood and his drawings. His lifetime's work includes a wide range of media and activities, with an expressive and technical mastery. Underwood did not hold modernism and abstraction in art in high regard and this led to critics often ignoring his work until the 1960s when he came to be viewed as an important figure in the development of modern sculpture in Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Bellows</span> American painter

George Wesley Bellows was an American realist painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City. He became, according to the Columbus Museum of Art, "the most acclaimed American artist of his generation".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Rothenstein</span> British painter, printmaker, draughtsman, lecturer and writer on art (1872–1945)

Sir William Rothenstein was an English painter, printmaker, draughtsman, lecturer, and writer on art. Though he covered many subjects – ranging from landscapes in France to representations of Jewish synagogues in London – he is perhaps best known for his work as a war artist in both world wars, his portraits, and his popular memoirs, written in the 1930s. More than two hundred of Rothenstein's portraits of famous people can be found in the National Portrait Gallery collection. The Tate Gallery also holds a large collection of his paintings, prints and drawings. Rothenstein served as Principal at the Royal College of Art from 1920 to 1935. He was knighted in 1931 for his services to art. In March 2015 'From Bradford to Benares: the Art of Sir William Rothenstein', the first major exhibition of Rothenstein's work for over forty years, opened at Bradford's Cartwright Hall Gallery, touring to the Ben Uri in London later that year.

John Keith Vaughan, was a British painter. His work is held in the collections of the Government Art Collection, National Galleries Scotland, National Portrait Gallery, Tate and Victoria and Albert Museum in the UK.

Joash Woodrow was a reclusive English artist.

Eileen Cooper is a British artist, known primarily as a painter and printmaker.

Rita A Donagh is a British artist, known for her realistic paintings and painstaking draughtsmanship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Bevan (artist)</span> British painter

Robert Polhill Bevan was a British painter, draughtsman and lithographer who was married to the Polish-born artist Stanisława de Karłowska. He was a founding member of the Camden Town Group, the London Group, and the Cumberland Market Group.

Victor Arthur James Willing was a British painter, noted for his original nude studies. He was a friend and colleague of many notable artists, including Elisabeth Frink, Michael Andrews and Francis Bacon. He was married to Portuguese feminist artist Paula Rego.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Randall</span> British figurative painter (born 1975)

Carl Randall is a British figurative painter, whose work is based on images of modern Japan and London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grafton Galleries</span> Art gallery in Mayfair, London

The Grafton Galleries, often referred to as the Grafton Gallery, was an art gallery in Mayfair, London. The French art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel showed the first major exhibition in Britain of Impressionist paintings there in 1905. Roger Fry's two famous exhibitions of Post-Impressionist works in 1910 and 1912 were both held at the gallery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Cooke</span> British artist and educator (1927–2008)

Jean Esme Oregon Cooke RA was an English painter of still lifes, landscapes, portraits and figures. She was a lecturer at the Royal Academy and regularly exhibited her works, including the summer Royal Academy exhibitions. She was commissioned to make portraits by Lincoln College and St Hilda's College, Oxford. Her works are in the National Gallery, Tate and the Royal Academy collections. In the early years of her marriage, she signed her works Jean Bratby.

Malvina Cheek, A.R.C.A., was a British artist, best known for her work during World War II for the Recording Britain project. During the War she was commissioned for Recording Britain to make architectural records of old buildings in anticipation of their possible destruction. Eighteen finished works were presented to the scheme and her legacy is also preserved in many books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Aviva Blane</span> English painter

Frances Aviva Blane, is a British abstract painter who works in the Expressionist tradition. Her subject matter is the disintegration of paint and personality. Although her paintings are mainly non-referential, her drawings are often portraits of heads.

Leslie Donovan Gibson BA (Hons), ARCA was a British artist in the mid 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nahem Shoa</span> English painter

Nahem Shoa is a contemporary London painter best known for his series of portraits, collectively called Giant Heads, which were painted at up to 15 times life size. He is also notable for having increased the number of portraits of Black and mixed-race British people on display in British museums. Shoa has won a number of awards and prizes for his work, and serves on The Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery's Contemporary Arts Panel. His work has been exhibited in London's National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Academy as well as at galleries and museums in other parts of the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary E. Wrinch</span> Canadian painter (1877-1969)

Mary Evelyn Wrinch who signed her name M. E. Wrinch (1877–1969), was a Canadian artist who created miniature paintings, oil paintings, and block prints, sometimes inspired by the Northern Ontario landscape. She pioneered the 'Canadian style', painting landscapes with bold colours of the Algoma, Muskoka and Lake Superior regions, in situ. In her miniature paintings on ivory, she depicted her sitters with freshness and vitality. Her colour block prints are virtuoso examples of the medium.

Kathleen Browne was a New Zealand-born artist and teacher who established her artistic career in the United Kingdom.

Joan Hodes (1925–2022) was a British watercolourist and oil painter, best known for her landscapes of Britain, Ireland, and continental Europe.

References

  1. Gulliver, John (11 July 2017). "What the artist sees, and the sitter reveals". Islington Tribune, New Journal Enterprises. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  2. "SWET - South West Essex Technical College". archiveshub. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  3. Gulliver, John (13 December 2012). "Why Art School Made a Real Impression on me". Camden New Journal, New Journal Enterprises. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  4. Gulliver, John. "Artist Valerie's brush with royalty". Camden New Journal. New Journal Enterprises. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  5. "Valerie Wiffen (1943-)". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  6. "Discover Artists – Valerie J Wiffen". Art Uk. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  7. Gulliver, John (13 December 2012). "John Gulliver: Dr Louis Jacobs, the rabbi who fell foul of the establishment". Camden New Journal. New Journal Enterprises. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  8. Marasco, Giuseppe. "The Thoroughly Modern Valerie Wiffen". A World To Win. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  9. Simpson, Caroline. "Eye-Witness Accounts". The Glass Magazine. Glass Magazine Online. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  10. "Broadway Bookshop Events". Broadway Bookshop Hackney. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  11. Simpson, Caroline. "Glass talks to artist Valerie Wiffen on the opening of her new show in London". The Glass Magazine. Glass Magazine Online. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  12. Wiffen, Valerie (4 January 1999). Collins Learn to Draw – Still Life. UK: Collins. p. 64. ISBN   978-0004133331.
  13. Wiffen, Valerie (22 February 2002). Figure Sketching School: The Essential Step-by-step Guide to Sketching Accurate Life-like Figures. UK: Reader's Digest. p. 144. ISBN   978-0276425707.