Reg Cartwright - English Contemporary Still Life and Landscape Painter

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Reg's Biography

reg cartwright artist painter

Reg Cartwright was born in Leicester in 1938, the eldest of three brothers. After a conventional childhood he left the Gateway grammar school and worked as a pattern maker in a local shoe factory. This was not a good period of Reg's early life as he had wanted to go to art school, but this was not possible. National Service followed in the Leicestershire Regiment, serving in Cyprus and Germany. He was de-mobbed in 1960.

In 1962 he married Ann Harrison and they had two sons, Simon and James. Ann went to get an art history degree and wrote several books for children.

Determined not to go back into the shoe industry Reg managed to get a job in a small studio designing badges. From this humble beginning he moved into bigger studios, culminating in Frank Gayton Advertising, a large 30 man studio in Leicester. This was his art school, "I learned more there than any art school could have taught me". After six years he became an art director at Gee Advertising a larger agency in Leicester. Ten years later in 1976, he went freelance and became a full time artist.

There then followed a thirty year period of book illustrating and painting. Some lavishly illustrated books included the Canterbury Tales, Mr Potter's Pigeon, Peter and the Wolf, an anthology of poetry and seven books written by his wife Ann. He has had exhibitions in London and the UK, Japan and New York. For the past seventeen years he has concentrated purely on his paintings and his work is in private and public collections around the world.

Today Reg Cartwright's paintings are, as to quote Cambridge Contemporary Art ' Continuing the tradition of British Modernism. Working primarily with still life he uses familiar objects, plates, jugs, flowers to examine spatial relationships and achieves a balanced composition by flattening perspectives, omitting non-essential details and focusing on tone.'

1938	Born in Leicester
1951 - 1954	Educated at The Gateway Boys School Leicester
1954 - 1957	Apprentice pattern maker in Leicester's shoe trade
1957 -1960	National Service (musician) Leicestershire Regiment serving in Cyprus and Germany
1962	Married Ann Harrison two sons born 1963 and 1965
1960 - 1976	Commercial artist and art director at Frank Gayton and Gee Advertising studio's Leicester
1972	Mixed exhibition at Portal Gallery - London
1974	One man exhibition at portal gallery - London
1975	Mixed exhibition at King Street Gallery - London
1976	One ann exhibition at Gadesby Gallery - Leicester
1976	Became a full time painter and illustrator
1977	One man exhibition at Portal Gallery - London
1979	One man exhibition at Portal Gallery - London
1979	Mixed exhibition at Picadilly Gallery - London
1980	One man exhibition at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery
1980	Mr Potter's Pigeon published by Hutchinson and awarded the Mother Goose Award for best Illustration (written by Patrick Kinmonth)
1980 - 1981	The Leicester Collection - Arts Council Exhibition
1981	16th Exhibition of Original Pictures of International Children's Books - Japan
1982	European Illustrators Touring exhibition: Whitechapel Art Gallery - London, Henry Thomas Gallery - Carmarthen, Midland Group - Nottingham, Cooper Gallery - Barnsley, Kirkcaldy Gallery, Museum and Arts Centre - Durham and Atkinson Gallery - Stockport
1982	Children's Book Illustrators (Smagic) exhibition M.O.M.A - Oxford
1983	Norah's Ark published by Huchinson (written by Ann Cartwright)
1985	Works for television - Mapp and Lucia opening titles (London Weekend Television)
1986	The Proud and Fearless Lion published by Huchinson (written by Ann Cartwright)
1987	Peter and the Wolf published by Walker Books
1987	My Cat published by Walker Books
1987	My Dog published by Walker Books
1988	The Canterbury Tales published by Walker Books
1989	Exhibition of Contemporary Children's Book Illustrators - Commonwealth Institute - London
1989	The Last Dodo published by Hutchinson (written by Ann Cartwright)
1989	The Winter Hedgehog published by Hutchinson (written by Ann Cartwright)
1989	The Man Who Wanted to live Forever published by Walker Books
1990	One man Exhibition - Woods Gallery - Leicester
1990	Polly and the Privet Bird published by Hutchinson (written by Ann Cartwright)
1991	Birds Beasts and Fishes published by Walker Books
1992	Arts Council exhibition - The Making of a Book - Birds Beasts and Fishes, toured Cartwright Hall - Bradford and Derby City Museum and Art Gallery
1993	Jackdaw published by Hutchinson (written by Ann cartwright)
1993	Firebird published by Walker Books
1993	Something New For A Bear To Do published by Hutchinson
1994	Billy Fishbone published by Longmans
1995	James and the Rain published by Simon and Schuster
1997	The Boat of Many Rooms published by Atheneum
1997	Exhibition, Still Life - Two Views - Cambridge Contemporary Art
1997	Kasper's greatest Discovery published by Frances Lincoln
1997	Exhibition, The Original Show - American Museum of 20th Century Illustration - New York
1997	The Band Over The Hill published by Hutchinson
1999	One Man Exhibition, New Paintings - Cambridge Contemporary Art
1999	Three Golden Oranges published by Atheneum
2000	What Does Rabbit Say? published by Doubleday
2001	One Man Exhibition, Simple Truths - Cambridge Contemporary Arts
2001	Going Home published by Dorling Kindersley (written by Ann Cartwright)
2002	The Edge of the Woods published by Henry Holt
2003	One Man Exhibition, New Paintings - Cambridge Contemporary Art
2004	Where Do We Live published by Hutchinson
2004	What Do We Do? published by Hutchinson
2005	Mixed exhibition, Brian Sinfield Gallery - Burford
2005	Mixed Exhibition, Thompson Gallery - Suffolk
2006	One Man Exhibition - Cambridge Contemporary Art
2007	One Man Exhibition, Ainscough Gallery - London and Dartmouth
2007	Bircham Gallery - Holt
2009	One Man exhibition, New Paintings - Cambridge Contemporary Art

	COLLECTIONS
	Leicestershire Schools Art Collection
	Leicester Museum and Art Gallery
	Leicester Royal Infirmary
	Mazza Collection, Findlay, Ohio, USA
	Addenbrooks Hospital, Cambridge
	Basildon and Thurrock, NHS Trust
	National Hospital for Neurological Diseases, London
	West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St. Edmunds
	London Transport Museum
	University of Leicester
	Private Collections Worldwide
	Copyright Reg Cartwright 2022. All Rights Reserved. Website by James Cartwright.