DAVID PRENTICE - Moseley School of Art Association



Landscape painter David Prentice was born in Solihull on the 4th July 1936 and died at Malvern, Worcestershire on the 7th. May 2014. At the age of 13, David was awarded a place at the Moseley School of Art, Birmingham. He attended the school between 1949 and 1952 when he left to become a student at the Birmingham College of Art, where he remained until 1957. David, who died aged 77, had an unusual trajectory as an artist. In the 1960s, when he was one of the founders of the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, his work was hard-edged, abstract, close to the Op art of a period when young artists and architects were full of ideas for new beginnings. David's art was about new forms, his hero Piet Mondrian. In the late 1980s, when he returned to full-time painting after a career teaching others, it was to the tradition of English landscape painting. For many years thereafter, his subject was the Malvern Hills, which he knew intimately from countless walks with sketchpad in hand. The forms of the hills were a constant, the weather constantly changing. He painted with the concern for structure and surface that had characterised his earlier work. The watercolours, often done on the spot, were more specific but the paintings done in the studio were as carefully constructed as ever. It was not long before he was winning prizes (the Sunday Times watercolour competition in 1990, for example) and having exhibitions (more than 20 solo shows since the early 1990s, many with the John Davies Gallery in Moreton-in- Marsh, Gloucestershire). In time his subjects expanded to include dramatic cityscapes of London, especially of the river, and the landscape of Skye, or rather its approaches – the"Road to the Isles" – as well as the Lake District and the Welsh mountains. Son of George, a builder and clerk of works at Elmdon airport, and Ruth (nee Hope), Prentice was born in Solihull, West Midlands, and went to Moseley School of Art, Birmingham, from the age of 13. At Birmingham College of Arts and Crafts, he met Dinah Prentice. They married in 1958 when David was doing his national service and Dinah was at the Royal Academy Schools in London. Despairing of the lack of exhibition space in Birmingham, he and Dinah, with the artists Sylvani Merilion, Robert Groves and Jesse Bruton, and with the support of a selfless benefactor, Angus Skene, in 1964 founded the Ikon Gallery, which at first occupied a modest kiosk in the Bull Ring shopping area. They initiated a programme of showing new art that attracted national attention and national funding, and characterises the gallery to this day, though it has long since moved into grander premises. Prentice had early success as an artist. His paintings were bought by the Arts Council and shown at the Serpentine Gallery in London; and in the US, he showed with the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York and was bought by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. This was all good for the CV, but sales were few and far between. Now with four daughters to support, David and Dinah both taught, and David eventually became course director for the BA fine art degree at Birmingham Polytechnic (now Birmingham City University). The painting department there was especially strong in those years under the direction of William Gear. Full-time teaching at that time took up three and a half days a week, and David never stopped the practice of painting, submitting work for exhibition when the opportunity arose. He also found time to play jazz (his favourite instrument was the banjo) in a number of Northamptonshire bands. Cycling was a veritable passion; he had competed as a youngster and loved to talk about road racing, in Britain and main-land Europe. David left teaching as soon as circumstances permitted and worked full-time as an artist, beginning with a year as artist-in- residence at Nottingham University in 1986. He and Dinah travelled; in her words, they "went to look at mountains"– the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Highlands, the Welsh mountains. In 1990 they moved from Northamptonshire to live under the Malvern Hills. David had known this landscape as a boy from family excursions but it now became part of his life. He painted it in watercolours and oils, and he wrote and spoke about it with knowledge and with love. It is a landscape with many artistic associations, famously in the poetry of AE Housman and the music of Edward Elgar. CourtesyANDREW DEMPSEY © The Guardian, 2 June 2014
David Prentice pictured exploring the Malvern Hills

Whilst not limiting himself to the beautiful hills around Malvern where he lived, it is David's work as a landscape painter depicting the Malvern Hills for which he was, perhaps best known. Ranging from identifiable pictorial works of the countryside and its features to the beautifully expressive near-abstract works for which David became famous, his work is now very much in demand.



David had a particularly impressive curriculum vitae which reflected over half a century of attainment :
1957-1959 National Service with the Royal Artillery from 1959 Taught part time at Birmingham College of Art and Crafts and Mid- Warwickshire School of Art 1968-1971 Lecturer in Basic Studies Birmingham College of Art and Crafts 1964-1972 Co-Director and Founder Ikon Gallery Birmingham 1971-1982 Senior Lecturer in charge Experimental Workshop, City of Birmingham Polytechnic 1978-1981 Member of East Midlands Arts Visual Arts Panel 1984-1985 Fine Art Advisor, Nene College, Northampton 1982-1986 Course Director, B.A. Fine Art, City of Birmingham Polytechnic 1986 Retired from full time teaching 1986-1987 Artist in Residence, Nottingham University 1986-1989 Visiting Artist, B.A. Fine Art, Trent Polytechnic 1987-1988 Visiting Artist, Ruskin School of Fine Art, Oxford University 1988-1992 Visiting Artist, B.A. Fine Art, University of Central England from 1997 Patron - Autumn in Malvern Festival 1998 Elected to membership of the Royal Watercolour Society (resigned 2001) from 2001 Trustee George Jackson Educational Foundation

David Prentice - Night Life - Rose Moon Oil on Canvas, 35in x 40in.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 1961 Royal Birmingham Society of Artists 1963 Royal Birmingham Society of Artists 1965 Ikon Gallery , Birmingham 1965 University of Birmingham 1965 Arden Gallery , Henley in Arden 1967 Portland Gallery , Leamington Spa 1967 Ikon Gallery, Birmingham 1968 Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham 1968 Arts Council Gallery, Cambridge 1969 Ikon Gallery, Birmingham 1971 Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Park, London 1971 Ikon Gallery, Birmingham 1971 Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham 1971 University of Birmingham 1974 Ikon Gallery, Birmingham 1976 Prescote Gallery, near Banbury, Oxfordshire 1977 Coracle Press, London 1977 Ibis Gallery, Leamington Spa 1979 Prescote Gallery, near Banbury , Oxfordshire 1980 Ikon Gallery, Birmingham 1983 Milton Keynes Exhibition Gallery and Nottingham Castle Museum 1983 Dan Sullivan Gallery, Bedford 1985 Open University, Milton Keynes 1985 The Stables, Wavendon 1986 University of Leicester 1986 University of Nottingham 1987 University of Nottingham 1990 Malvem Festival Exhibition 1991 Nevill Gallery, Canterbury 1992 Anna-Mei Chadwick, London 1991 Malvem Festival Exhibition 1993 Gainsboroughs House, Sudbury, Suffolk 1993 Midlands Contemporary Art, Birmingham 1993 Malvem Festival Exhibition 1994 Anna-Mei Chadwick, London 1994 Art First, Cork Street, London 1994 St. Georges Brandon Hill, Bristol 1995 Malvem Festival Exhibition 1996 John Davies, Stow-on-the-Wold, Glos. 1997 Art First, Cork Street, London 1998 Malvem Theatres ( opening season) 1998 John Davies, Stow-on-the-Wold, Glos. 1999/2000 Cowleigh Gallery, Malvem 'Real Prints' and Watercolours 2001 John Davies, Stow-on-the-Wold, Glos. 2002 artLONDON solo with John Davies Gallery - Stand no.20 2003 John Davies, Stow-on-the- Wold, Glos.

David Prentice Kings Reach - St Pauls and the City Reed-pen and Watercolour 23 x 33 ____________________________ David Prentice Kings Reach - Blackfriars Watercolour 23 x 33


David Prentice - Earnslaw Elevation Oil on Canvas, 24 x 26

David Prentice - Above Llanberis Lake Watercolour, 33 x 33



GROUP EXHIBITIONS 1956 Industrial Britain, Cafe Royal and Cheni1 Gallery, London PRIZE* 1957 Richard, Thomas & Baldwin, Cafe Royal, London 1958 Mixed Company, Royal Birmingham Society of Artists 1964 Betty Parsons Gallery , New York 1965 Spring Exhibition, Bradford City Art Gallery 1965 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York 1965 Museum of Modern Art, New York 1965 John Player Open, Midland Group, Nottingham 1966 Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Mass., U.S.A. 1966 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York 1966 Spring Exhibition, Bradford City Art Gallery 1967 Piccadilly Gallery, London 1967 Spring Exhibition, Bradford City Art Gallery 1967 Contemporary British Painting & Sculpture, Albright Knox, New York 1967 John Player Open, Midland Group, Nottingham 1968 Axiom Gallery, London 1968-1970 Arts Council Collection tour 1968 John Moores Liverpool Exhibition Liverpool Art Gallery 1969 Curwen Gallery 1969 Axiom Gallery, London 1969 British International Print Bienalle Bradford Art Gallery 1969 Arts Council of Northern Ireland Open, Belfast 1970 Eight English Printmakers Arts Council touring 1970 Three Plus Infinity, Whitechapel Gallery , London 1970 Artists International Association Gallery , London 1970 Artists International Association, Alfred East Gallery , Kettering 1970 John Moores Liverpool Exhibition Liverpool Art Gallery 1970 Lisson Gallery, London 1971 Artists International Association Gallery, London 1971 Kunst der Partnerstadte, Frankfurt (Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery ) 1971 Lisson Gallery, London 1972 Editions Alecto International, Bluecoat Gallery , Liverpool 1976 New Work, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery 1977 Midland Art Now, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham 1977 Tolly Cobbold Eastern Arts Open 1978 Miniatures, Coracle Press, London 1983 Works on Paper, Royal Birmingham Society of Artists Gallery 1983 Birmingham College of Art Centenary Exhibition, Midlands Art Centre 1984 Twenty Onefor Twenty One, Ikon Gallery 21st Birthday Exhibition 1984 Kites, Derby City Art Gallery 1985 Lamport Hall Painting Competition, Lamport Hall, Northants - PRIZE* 1985 John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford 1985 Royal Watercolour Society Bankside Gallery , London 1985 Laing Open, Mall Galleries, London 1986 From Plate to Paper, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery 1986 Laing Open, Mall Galleries, London 1987 Royal Watercolour Society Bankside Gallery , London 1986 Extra Mural, East Midlands Arts at Alfred East Art Gallery, Kettering 1986 Birmingham Pastel Group 1987 Royal Watercolour Society Bankside Gallery, London 1987 Laing Open, Birmingham Post Building 1988 Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour 1988 Laing Open, Mall Galleries, London 1988 Birmingham Pastel Group - PRIZE* 1988 In Flight Brighton Polytechnic Portland Gallery, Nottingham University Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery Royal Airforce Museum, Hendon 1988 Constable Memorial Exhibition, Camden Arts Centre 1987 and 1989 Abbott & Holder, London 1989 Singer & Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition, Mall Gallery, London 1989 Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour 1989 Laing Open, Mall Galleries, London 1989 Constable Memorial Exhibition, Camden Arts Centre 1989 to 1998 Cowleigh Gallery, Malvern 1989 Paint the Town, City of Birmingham Centenary , R.B.S.A. - PRIZE* 1989 Anita Shapolsky Gallery, SoHo, New York 1989 and 1990 Ceri Richards Gallery, University College Swansea 1989 Pastel Society, Mall Gallery London - PRIZE* 1990 Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour 1990 Birmingham Pastel Group - PRIZE* 1990 Nevill Gallery, Canterbury 1990 Five Artists, R.B.S.A. 1990 Pastel Society, Oaler Gallery , Bournemouth 1990 Pastel Society, Mall Gallery London Featured Artist 1990 Singer & Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition, Mall Gallery, London and Barbizon Gallery ,Glasgow PRIZE* 1990 Fountain Fine Art, Llandeilo, Wales 1990 Summer Exhibition, Anna-Mei Chadwick 1990 New Gallery , Mumbles, Wales 1991 British Artists for the 1990s, R.B.S.A. 1991 Pastel Society, Mall Gallery London 1991 Willowherb Studios Exhibition, R.B.S.A. 1991 Royal Society of Marine Artists, Mall Gallery 1991 New Gallery, Mumbles, Wales 1991 Summer Exhibition, Anna-Mei Chadwick 1991 Cheltenham Group, Cheltenham Art Gallery 1992 Royal Watercolour Society Bankside Gallery , London 1992 Hunting/Observer Art Prizes, Mall Gallery : Edinburgh: Kimberlin Gallery, Leicester 1992 Laing Open, Mall Galleries, London 1992 New Gallery, Mumbles, Wales 1992 Summer Exhibition, Anna-Mei Chadwick 1992 Pastel Society, Mall Gallery London 1992 Birmingham Pastel Group - PRIZE* 1992 Pastel Society, Linda Blackstone Gallery 1992 Malvem Open Drawing Competition 1992 Art in Nature, Nature in Art Gallery, Gloucestershire 1992 St. James's Gallery, Bath 1992 Singer & Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition, Mall Gallery, London., Leeds City Art Gallery and R.B.S.A. 1992 Watercolours from Birmingham: 150 Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery R.W.S. Bankside Gallery, London and Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery 1992 Bradford on Avon Trust Exhibition 1993 Pastel Society, Mall Gallery London resigned membership 1992 Silk Top Hat Gallery, Ludlow 1993 Hunting/Observer Art Prizes, Mall Gallery and Victoria Art Gallery , Bath 1993 Laing Open, Mall Galleries, London 1993 Joie de Vivre, Midlands Contemporary Art 1993 Royal Watercolour Society Bankside Gallery , London 1993 Malvern Open Drawing Competition 1993 Singer & Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition, Mall Gallery, Leeds City Art Gallery and R.B.S.A. 1993 Bradford on Avon Trust Exhibition 1993 Bath Art Fair 1993 Medici Gallery , London 1993 Birmingham Pastel Society in Malvem, Cowleigh Gallery 1994 The Featured Land, Art First, London 1994 Duncan Campbell, London 1994 Bradford on Avon Trust Exhibition 1994 Laing Open, Mall Galleries, London 1994 Medici Gallery, London 1994 Summer Exhibition, Art First, London 1995 Art First, London Contemporary Art Fair 1995 Landscape at Large, Art First, London 1995 Laing Open, Mall Galleries, London 1995 Medici Gallery, London 1995 New Gallery, Mumbles, Wales 1995 Summer Exhibition, Anna-Mei Chadwick 1995 The Gallery Upstairs, Henley in Arden 1995 Birmingham Pastel Society National Exhibition Centre Birmingham 1995 Royal Watercolour Society Bankside Gallery , London 1995 Birmingham Pastel Society MAC, Cannon Hill, Birmingham 1995 William Gear: Past and Present Friends Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery - an exhibition celebrating William Gear's 80th birthday 1995 The Christmas Show Art First, London 1996 Singer & Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition Mall Galleries, London. R.B.S.A. Galleries, Birmingham. Art House, Manchester and Harewood House, Leeds. PRIZE 1996 Oils Masterclass Cowleigh Gallery exhibition and book launch 1996 Anderson Gallery Broadway Birmingham Pastel Society 1996 Malvern Festival Exhibition Cowleigh Gallery, Malvern 1997 Three Years On Art First, London 1997 Birmingham Pastel Society Department of Art Univ. of Central England PRIZE* 1997 The Hunting Art Prizes Royal College of Art London Hunterian Museum Glasgow 1997 Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition John Davies Gallery, Stow-on-the-Wold 1997 Malvern Festival Exhibition Cowleigh Gallery , Malvern 1997 Medici Gallery, London 1997 Singer & Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition Mall Galleries, London; Art House, Manchester; Phillips, Hepper House, Leeds R.B.S.A. Galleries, Birmingham. 1997 Piers Feetham Gallery Chelsea Contemporary Landscape Drawings curated by William Packer art critic of the Financial Times 1997-98 The Open Drawing Show: Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Higher Education University Lincolnshire & Hull 1998 Royal Watercolour Society, Bankside Gallery, London 1998 Cowleigh Gallery Malvern Festival Exhibition 1999 Drawings & Watercolour Fair Park Lane Hotel, London (John Davies) 1999 Royal Watercolour Society, Bankside Gallery, London 1999 Birmingham Pastel Society Department of Art University of Central England - PRIZE* 1999 Mountain Wolverhampton Art Gallery 1999 Singer & Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition PRIZE* 2000 Number Nine the Gallery, Birmingham 2000 Royal College of Art Works on Paper Fair 2000 Real Prints Cowleigh Gallery 2000 The Cork Street Gallery with Anna-Mei Chadwick 2000 The Gallery Upstairs Henley in Arden (prints ) 2000 Medici Gallery 2000 5th Open Print Exhibition Royal West of England Academy Bristol 2000 London Lives Bankside Gallery London 2000 The Discerning Eye Invited Artist (Sally Bulgin) 2000 Real Prints Autumn in Malvern Festival 2000 Two Rivers Gallery Cheltenham 2001 Number Nine the Gallery, Birmingham 2001 Birmingham Pastel Society Department of Art, University of Central England 2001 Singer & Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition Mall Galleries, London; Leeds City Art Gallery; The Sculpture Gallery; Manchester Town Hall R.B.S.A. Gallery, Birmingham 2001 Surface Invention Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery works on paper to coincide with the opening of the Water Hall Gallery 2001 As Far As The Eye Can See - A Landscape Exhibition Richard Attenborough Centre University of Leicester 2002 Number Nine the Gallery, Birmingham 2002 Made in Birmingham RBSA Gallery Birmingham 2002 Singer & Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2002 The Discerning Eye Invited Artist (Richard Littejohn) 2003 Number Nine the Gallery, Birmingham

COMMISSIONS 1960 -1963 Three murals for Flowers Breweries, Stratford upon Avon 1972 Murals and Display System, Ove Arup/Department of Physical Metallurgy, University of Birmingham 1978 Royal Agricultural Show International Pavilion, Alfa Laval Stand 1988 Paintings for the J .M. W . Turner Ward, Battle Hospital, Reading Southern Artlink commission 1994 Ross on Wye Swimming Pool Mural shortlisted 1994 Clwyd Fine Arts Trust River Dee Project shortlisted 1995 West Mercia Police Headquarters, Hindlip Hall two 5'x5' oils 1997 Watercolour of Mathon Court for Ninky Phipps' birthday

PRIZES 1955 Industrial Britain Richard Thomas and Baldwin Painting Prize 1958 Royal Artillery Painting Prize (during National Service 1957-1959) 1985 Lamport Hall Painting Competition First Prize 1988 Birmingham Pastel Society Everyman Award 1989 City of Birmingham Centenary Exhibition Winsor & Newton Sponsors Prize 1989 Pastel Society, London First Prize Daler-Rowney Award 1990 Singer & Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition First Prize £15,000 1990 Birmingham Pastel Society Everyman Award 1992 Birmingham Pastel Society Everyman Award 1996 Singer & Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition Third Prize £1,000 1997 Birmingham Pastel Society First Prize Daler-Rowney Award 1997 Cheltenham Open Drawing Competition - Commended 1999 Birmingham Pastel Society First Prize Daler-Rowney Award 1999 Singer & Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition Second Prize£5,000

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The Moseley School of Art Association is an association formed to:

- promote and maintain, through exhibitions, reunions and other means personal contact between all former pupils and staff members of the Moseley Secondary School of Art, Moseley Road, Birmingham 12 England

- to promote the activities of members who are active in any of the fields of art and the crafts, by means of publicity, sponsorship and procurement of artist materials at discount rates