1 - 22 September 2018
Joe Tilson at 90
To celebrate Joe Tilson's 90th birthday, a new exhibition at the Alan Cristea Gallery will feature various recent print editions which continue his exploration of Venetian architectural motifs. This body of work, in which he has been engrossed for the past twelve years, will be shown alongside a selection of Tilson’s visual notebooks. Tilson, who was born in London in 1928, trained as a carpenter at the Brixton School of Building in his early teens, before completing military service. In 1949 he attended St. Martin’s School of Art with Leon Kosoff and Frank Auerbach, and continued his training in 1952...
To celebrate Joe Tilson's 90th birthday, a new exhibition at the Alan Cristea Gallery will feature various recent print editions which continue his exploration of Venetian architectural motifs. This body of work, in which he has been engrossed for the past twelve years, will be shown alongside a selection of Tilson’s visual notebooks.
Tilson, who was born in London in 1928, trained as a carpenter at the Brixton School of Building in his early teens, before completing military service. In 1949 he attended St. Martin’s School of Art with Leon Kosoff and Frank Auerbach, and continued his training in 1952 at the Royal College of Art in with Peter Blake, Allen Jones, Patrick Caulfield and David Hockney, who alongside Tilson were instrumental in the birth of British Pop Art. In 1955, Tilson made his first visit to Italy and now spends several months each year in Tuscany from where he draws much of his inspiration.
Joe Tilson at 90 will feature new hand-coloured prints from his series The Stones of Venice alongside Postcards from Venice, 2011-2012, representing the influence of a place with which Tilson remains deeply connected . Since 1970 Tilson has kept notebooks; a complete record of where and what was going on, people met, places seen, poetry, and illustrations of works in progress, all interspersed with personal thoughts. A selection of these will also be on view in the exhibition.
