Peter Douglas Edwards, born 20 November 1955, British painter. Winner of the 1994 BP Portrait Award.
Contents |
Peter Edwards was born in Chirk, North Wales, the son of Harry William Edwards, who came from a brewing family (J Edwards and son, Weston Rhyn), and Annie May Williams, daughter of Allan Williams killed in Ifton Colliery in 1943. His paternal grandmother was Maud Martha Baugh, a great-great-granddaughter of Robert Baugh[1] (1748–1832) of Llanymynech. His family moved across the border to Ellesmere, Shropshire, where they lived at London House, a large Victorian building. It was in the centre of the market town his father operated a TV and electrical business, County TV Service Ltd, which was founded in 1954 and ceased trading in 1999.
He attended Ellesmere Primary School 1960 - 1965, Bellan House School 1965 - 1967, and Oswestry School 1967 - 1974. After gaining A levels in Art and English, he attended an art foundation course at Shrewsbury School of Art, (part of what is now known as Shrewsbury College) 1974 - 1975. followed by a degree in Fine Art at Gloucestershire College of Art and Design, Cheltenham, Pittville Campus, 1975 - 1978. In his last term he brought out a small booklet of poems Brain's Acreage published by his complementary studies tutor Nick Wayte, and Nick's partner Gill Woodward. In October 1978 after an unsuccessful interview at the Royal College of Art, he set up a studio in the now unoccupied top floor of London House. He began to paint full time, (while helping when needed, delivering, and occasionally behind the counter, of the family business below) mainly self portraits, keeping in touch with the art scene by visiting friends who were still at art school in London, such as Tod Ramos (Royal Academy of Arts Schools) and Alistair Lockhart (St Martins).
In 1980 he exhibited a small self portrait in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. The painting was bought by the eminent collector, Sir Brinsley Ford.[2] With the money from this sale he stayed for a week in the Cromwell Road, Belfast digs of his Cheltenham art-school friend (Malcolm) James Reilly. He attended Reilly's lectures on the Post' Graduate' course at Belfast Art School by day, and the bohemian and punk underworld by night. He particularly remembers talking with Rita Donagh who was there as a visiting lecturer.
Through the 1980s he continued to exhibit at the Royal Academy and began exhibiting in the National Portrait Gallery's Portrait Award. A career breakthrough was the purchase in 1986 of The Liverpool Poets by the NPG. His continuing involvement with the gallery and Robin Gibson[3] then 20th Century Curator (later Chief Curator) led to a major one-man exhibition and tour in the Gallery in April 1990 "Contemporary Poets", which consisted of 17 large canvasses of 20 poets, alongside a poem from each poet, numerous studies, and a series of Saturday morning readings from Seamus Heaney, Douglas Dunn, Charles Causley, Wendy Cope, and Craig Raine.[4]
On 30 July 1991, Bobby Moore unveiled Edwards' portrait of Bobby Charlton[5] in the National Portrait Gallery, Sponsored by British Gas plc, it marked the 25th anniversary of England winning the FIFA World Cup.[6]
In 1993 he exhibited in The Portrait Now show with, amongst others, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Nam June Paik, and Tony Bevan. In 1994 he won the BP Portrait Award[7] with Portrait of an Artist's Model, which was cited in the last paragraph of Richard Ormond's obituary of Marguerite Kelsey,[8] who was the subject of the portrait. She had been the been the model of choice, in the inter-war years, for many leading artists, including Meredith Frampton.[9] This award led to his commission to paint Kazuo Ishiguro, which was unveiled the following summer in the National Portrait Gallery by Ismail Merchant.