The Fine Art Society will present an exhibition of works by David Inshaw (b.1943), one of the most important figurative painters working in post-war Britain. Featuring over 16 new works, alongside several paintings from the 1980s and 1990s, the show will coincide with the publication of a seminal new book on the artist, David Inshaw, written by Andrew Lambirth and published by Unicorn Press.

Described by Lambirth as “perhaps the greatest living proponent of the English Romantic tradition”, Inshaw’s work shares the visionary intensity of William Blake, Samuel Palmer and Stanley Spencer, all artists whom he reveres. His pictures have a certain timelessness about them, with subjects that concentrate upon the intangible but powerful bonds of connection that exist between nature, man and landscape; on the passing of time and renewal; and on the life-force of attraction between men and women. 

At the heart of his painting is his attachment to the landscape of the West Country, which he uses as an evocative medium to convey intense emotion about human life, love and transience. The show will feature new Wiltshire landscapes including Silbury, Storm coming on (2015) and Silbury Hill (2014), a site which has long fascinated him, while Pink House,EastCliff,WestBay(2014)depictsStanleyKubrick’shomeinDorset. Theexhibitionwillalsofeatureseveral portraits and striking large-scale allegorical works including Allegory I (2015), Allegory II (2015) and Allegory, Bronzino (2015).

The exhibition will also coincide with the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Brotherhood of Ruralists, a group of British artists which Inshaw co-founded in 1975 with his friend Sir Peter Blake, following his move from London to Devizes, Wiltshire. Partly modelled on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, the group rejected city life in favour of the countryside, and devoted themselves to painting subjects that were eternal, drawn from nature and English mythology.

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David Inshaw studied at Beckenham School of Art from 1959-63 and later at the Royal Academy Schools. His work is represented in many private and museum collections, including the Tate, the Arts Council, the British Council, Bristol Museum&ArtGalleryandtheRoyalWestofEnglandAcademy. He is especially known for the iconic painting The Badminton Game (1972-3), which first brought him to national prominence at the ICA summer exhibition in 1973, and is now held in the collection of Tate Britain.