- Adam Birtwistle
Adam Birtwistle (*1959) is a British artist whose idiosyncratic portraits of composers and musicians are represented in the National Portrait Gallery.
Biography
Adam Birtwistle was born in Eton in
1959 and is the son of the composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle. After attending schools in Britain and the US, he studied sculpture for four years at Chelsea School of Art and followed this with two years at the Arch Bronze Foundry, working with Ben Kneale. In 1985 he took part in designing masks and costumes for one of his father’s music theatre pieces at Dartington Summer School of Music.In 1986 he attended printing classes at the
Royal Academy while preparing his first one-man show in London with Piano Nobile Fine Paintings. Since then he has regularly held solo shows at Piano Nobile and completed numerous commissions.Commissions and Paintings
Two paintings by Birtwistle have been purchased by the National Portrait Gallery in London : a portrait of his father, Sir Harrison [ [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp08148&rNo=1&role=art portrait of Sir Harrison] National Gallery] , and one of
Elvis Costello (Declan McManus) [ [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp08148&role=art&rNo=0 portrait of Elvis Costello] National Gallery] . Other musicians, conductors and composers to feature in his paintings include the pianistAlfred Brendel , and the composersHans Werner Henze and Sir Michael Tippett.In 1999, he was commissioned by Curtis Price to paint a portrait of his father for Dukes Hall at the
Royal Academy of Music .The following year, 2000, he was asked to paint portraits of six composers, whose operas were to be featured during the 2001 Glyndebourne Festival: Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi, Janacek, Britten and again Adam’s father, Sir Harrison, . He was subsequently commissioned by
Glyndebourne to paint the film and stage director, Sir Peter Hall, the artist and stage designer,David Hockney , the opera singerAnja Silja , as well as Sir George Christie, the then chairman of the Glyndebourne Festival, and his wife, Lady Christie.Among others, Birtwistle has done portraits of the painters Craigie Aitchison and Peter Blake. Fascinated by ‘performers’ of all descriptions, his subjects vary from the astronomer, Sir Patrick Moore, and Winston Churchill, through to the actor Jeremy Irons and Dame Marjorie Scardino.
Critical Comments
Lord Gowrie, chairman of the Art Council (1994/1998), described Adam Birtwistle as “an artist who brings off something uncommon and difficult. He is a serious painter with wit. This quality shows in both composition and brushwork.”Adam Birtwistle Exhibition Catalogue for Piano Nobile Gallery, London]
Dr
Charles Saumarez Smith , secretary and chief executive of the Royal Academy and formerly director of the National Gallery, regarded Adam Birtwistle as “one of the best of his generation” (*), while art critic Godfrey Barker called him “…one of our most distinguished portrait painters in what is, presently, a Golden Age of Portraiture in Britain.”Object of the Week Daily Telegraph 20th May 2002...
Glyndebourne , the celebratedSussex opera house, unveiled six paintings of people closely associated with it. They were all by Adam Birtwistle. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2002/05/20/baobj20.xml Object of the week - Telegraph ] ]External Links
[http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp08148&role=art National Portrait Gallery Index]
References
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