John Beard (born 1943) is a Welsh artist and painter born in Aberdare, Wales, he is now based in Sydney, Lisbon and London.
Life and art
John Beard won the Welsh National Art Scholarship in 1962 at just 19 years of age. After training at the Swansea College of Art, he completed further studies at the University of London and the Royal College of Art, London.
In 1965 he won the British Arts Council International Prize and Commission, and has since won many residences and commission at various Universities and establishments around the globe. After various teaching posts in the United Kingdom, Beard arrived in Western Australia in 1983, to become Senior Lecturer, Head of Painting, Curtin University, Perth. After resigning in 1989, Beard travelled extensively, living and exhibiting in cities such as New York, Madrid, Lisbon and London before establishing a Sydney base in 1997. When the Tate Gallery opened its St Ives gallery in Cornwall, 1998, John Beard was one of the first artists to be offered a residency and exhibition there.
During the mid-1990s while living in Portugal, Beard created the Adaga painting series, studies of off-shore rock formations and their constantly changing character. This study led Beard into portraiture, or rather examining the nature of portraiture and its implications for the epistemology of human recognition.
In 2007 Beard won the Archibald, Australia's most prestigious portrait prize, for his painting of artist Janet Laurence. It was part of a series of monochrome portraits of other artists. Beard was good friends with Laurence and as preparation had photographed and filmed her at her studio. Beard had won the Wynne Prize for landscape painting in 2006. He was a finalist of the 2015 Archibald Prize.
Artbank Australia, AustraliaArts Council of Great Britain, EnglandArt Gallery of NSW, AustraliaArt Gallery of Western Australia, AustraliaCentro do Arte Moderna da Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian, PortugalCurtin University, AustraliaGold Coast City Art Gallery, AustraliaMacquarie University, AustraliaMurdoch University, Sydney, AustraliaNational Gallery of Australia, Canberra, AustraliaNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, AustraliaNew Parliament House Collection, Canberra, AustraliaOxford University, EnglandQueensland Art Gallery, AustraliaRobert Holmes a Court Collection, AustraliaSydney University, AustraliaTate Gallery, EnglandUniversity of Melbourne (Victorian College of the Arts), AustraliaUniversity of New South Wales, AustraliaUniversity of the Northern Territory, AustraliaUniversity of Western Australia, AustraliaRepresented in private collections in America, Canada, England, Wales, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and India.Awards and fellowships
2007 Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of NSW2006 Wynne Prize (Landscape), Art Gallery of NSW1994 Australia Council, Award to Assist Series of Solo Exhibitions in Europe.1989 Australia Council Major Fellowship, Visual Arts & Craft Board.1984 West Australia Invitation Art Award, Fremantle Art Gallery.1983 Pegasus Art Award, Art Gallery of Western Australia.1965 British Arts Council International Prize and Commission, Aberdare Public Library Mural, Wales.1962 Welsh National Arts Scholarship.Reviews, articles and essays
Beard, John, To Infinity and Beyond! Contemporary Australian Art, Commissioned article by the Official Website of ARCO, Madrid <masdearte.com> 2002.Bond, Anthony, Form-Image-Sign, The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Essay,1984.Brampton, Robin, John Beard – Tate Gallery St Ives, England, The Times & Echo, St. Ives, England, December 1998.Carlos, Isabel, John Beard – Solo Exhibition, Galeria Luis Serpa, Lisbon, Portugal, FLASH ART, Review, May–June 1995.Carver, Toni, Tate Triumphant with John Wells and John Beard, Tate Gallery St. Ives England,Chanin, Eileen, Contemporary Australian Painting Australian Original, A Sense of Place, Article, Sydney, 1990.Cinco Dias, Ed., Solo Exhibition – Afinsa Almirante Galeria de Arte, Madrid, Cinco Dias, Review, 22 May 1992.Davis, Wendy, After Image, John Beard at Tate Gallery St Ives (England), Monument, Feature, Issue 30, Sydney, June/July 1999.Drury, Nevil, John Beard, New Art II, Craftsman House, Sydney, Article, 1988.Escribano, Maria, Solo Exhibition – Afinsa Almirante Galeria de Arte, Madrid, Nuevo Estillo, Preview, June 1992.Evans, Louise, Solo Exhibition – William Jackson Gallery, London, Australian Associated Press, Article, March 1993.Fern, Lynette, Solo Exhibition – Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, The Sydney Morning Herald, Review, 11 October 1992.Gibson, Robin, Painting the Century, 101 Portrait Masterpieces 1900–2000, John Beard, Wanganui Heads 1998, National Portrait Gallery, London, Catalogue, 2000.Greenberg, Sarah, Solo Exhibition – Tate Gallery St Ives, England, The International Art Newspaper, Review, Vol. IX, No. 82., June 1998.Hill, Peter, The Rock and the Head – Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney Australia, Review, Sydney.Morning Herald, "HeadSpace", 6–12 September 2002.Ingram, Terry Sombre Mood in New Collection, Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney The Australian Financial Review, News Feature, May 2004.Jackson, Kevin, "A hundred and one conceptions", Painting the Century, National Portrait Gallery, London, The Independent, Review, 28 November 2000.Jacobson, Howard, The Chicago Art Fair, Modern Painters Vol. 2, No. 2, Summer 1989.JN Solo Exhibition – BMG Galleries, Adelaide, The Adelaide Review, Review, June 1994.Journal Letras, Ed., Accrochage 3, Galeria Comicos, Lisbon, Journal Letras, Review, 28 September 1993.Kerr, Joan, The Possibilities of a National Portrait Gallery, The National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, Art Monthly Australia, Number 118, Review, April 1999.Klaushofter, Alex, There's no place... New Statesman, London, England, Article, 26 June 1998.Lindsay, Robert, The Shell Collection, Melbourne, Australia, Catalogue Essay, 1995.Lynn, Elwyn, Nobody's Man is Powerful Painter, Solo Exhibition – Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, The Weekend Australian, Review, 26 January 1985.Lynton, Norbert, Portraits from a Pluralist Century, Painting the Century, 101 PortraitMasterpieces 1900–2000, National Portrait Gallery, London, Catalogue, 2000.Mannix, Ian, Solo Exhibition – William Jackson Gallery, London, Australian Broadcasting, Interview, February 1993.McDonald, John Solo Exhibition – Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, The National Times, Review, 9 November 1986.Mc Ewen, John, Critic's Choice, The Rock and the Head – Solo Exhibition, Stephen Lacey Gallery, London, The Sunday Telegraph, Feature, 31 December 2000.McGillick, Paul, Exhibitions Overseas- Preview, Monument Magazine, Sydney, Australia 2002.Mc Namara TJ, Power of working with the grain – Solo Exhibition – Jensen Gallery, Auckland, The New Zealand Herald, 26 September 2000.Maloon, Terence, Solo Exhibition – Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, The Sydney Morning Herald, Review, 26 January 1985.Marcon, Marco, Solo Exhibition – Galerie Dusseldorf, Praxis M, No. 13, July/August 1986.Millard, Rosie, Cutting Edge, Tate Gallery St Ives, England, Art Review, June 1998.Nazare, Leonor, John Beard Galeria Luis Serpa, Solo Exhibition, Lisbon, Portugal, Expresso, Review, 21 January 1995.Packer, William Solo Exhibition – Tate Gallery St Ives, England, The Financial Review, May 1998.Perez de Azor, J., Solo Exhibition – Afinsa Almirante, Madrid, El Punto, Review, 15–21 May 1992.Pinharanda, Joao, John Beard – Solo Exhibition – Galeria Luis Serpa, Lisbon, Portugal, Publico, Review, 21 January 1995.Simpson, Peter, Masterstroke in minding his own beeswax – Solo Exhibition – Jensen Gallery, Auckland, Sunday Star Times, 24 September 2000.Serraller, F., Calvo Suntuosa Madurez (Sumptuous Maturity) Solo Exhibition – Afinsa Almirante, Madrid, El Pais, Review, 1 June 1992.Smith, Terry, Solo Exhibition – Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, The Sydney Morning Herald, Review, 14 August 1988.Tunnicliffe, Wayne, John Beard Heads Phase III, Solo Exhibition – Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, LOOK – AGNSW Magazine, Article, Australia 1998.Watson, Bronwyn, Solo Exhibition – Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, The Sydney Morning Herald, Review, 26 June 1987.Y. A., Solo Exhibition – Afinsa Almirante, Madrid, ABC Cultural, Review, 19 June 1992.
