About
Alan Kingsbury was born in London in 1960 and began painting in oils at the age of nine. He studied psychology and art history at the University of Wales taking his degree in psychology in 1982. Unconvinced of the usefulness of attending art school he spent a further year of full time study of art history in London, specialising in old master and modern European painting.
In 1983 he was offered a student internship at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice which enabled him to paint and study the art and architecture in the city. Following this he took up the post of cataloguer of modern paintings at Bonhams fine art auctioneers in London. During this time he was able to look at hundreds of pictures per week in galleries and auction houses thus gaining a wide knowledge for detail and effect in painting .
In 1986 Kingsbury left London to pursue his career as an artist. Initially he returned to Venice where he worked daily outdoors, painting oil sketches of the architecture in varying light conditions. At the end of this year he moved to Dumfriesshire in Scotland where he spent the subsequent five years developing his painting style and refining his technique. It was here that he began to compose his characteristic imaginative figure subjects.
In 1991 he moved to West Cornwall , where he now lives with his wife , the abstract painter Morag Ballard , and their two children.
Solo Exhibitions
1988 Jonathan Cooper Park Walk Gallery London
1989 Jonathan Cooper Park Walk Gallery London
1991 Francis Kyle Gallery London
1993 Francis Kyle Gallery London
1996 Francis Kyle Gallery London
1998 Francis Kyle Gallery London
2001 Francis Kyle Gallery London
2002 Old Custom House Gallery Penzance
2003 Jonathan Cooper Park Walk Gallery London
2003 The John Davies Gallery Stow-on-the-Wold
2005 Jonathan Cooper Park Walk Gallery London
2006 The New Custom House Galerie Friedrichstadt Germany
2008 Medici Gallery London
Mixed Exhibitions
1983 Royal Academy of Arts London Summer Exhibition
1988 The Alton Gallery London 'Glittering Prizes XIV'
'Glittering Prizes XV'
1989 Jonathan Cooper Park Walk Gallery London Summer Exhibition
20th Century British Art Fair London
1990 Francis Kyle Gallery London 'In a Brown Study '
1992 Francis Kyle Gallery London 'Conversations'
1993 Francis Kyle Gallery London 'Charleston Revisited'
1995 Francis Kyle Gallery London 'Jazz'
The Gallery West India Key London 'Cities and Water'
1997 Francis Kyle Gallery London 'A Saxon Shore'
The Arts Centre Kings Lynn 'A Saxon Shore'
2000 Francis Kyle Gallery London 'The Art of Memory Marcel Proust'
2001 The National Theatre London 'The Art of Memory Marcel Proust'
2002 Jonathan Cooper 'ART 2002' Islington London
2003 Jonathan Cooper 'London Art Fair' Islington London
Sauzmarez Manor Guernsey
'ART LONDON' Chelsea London Park Walk Gallery London 'A Dealer's Eye'
2004 ING Bank 'Platform 100 Exhibition' London
Baring Asset Management London
Royal West of England Academy Bristol 152 Autumn Exhibition
2005 Jonathan Cooper 'London Art Fair' Islington London
B.A.D.A. Fair Chelsea London
'ART LONDON' Chelsea London
Royal West of England Academy Bristol 153 Autumn Exhibition
2006 Royal West of England Academy Bristol 154 Autumn Exhibition
Medici Gallery London Christmas Exhibition
2007 Medici Gallery London Summer Exhibition
'ART LONDON' Chelsea London
Royal West of England Academy Bristol 155 Autumn Exhibition
Literature
'Realism Returns With a Princely Seal of Approval' by Geralidine Norman 'The Independent' October 14th 1991
'Going Solo' by Henrietta Howard 'House and Garden' Magazine October 1991
'The Art of Alan Kingsbury' by John Russell Taylor (Art critic, 'The Times'). Francis Kyle Gallery Catalogue 1993
'St. Ives Revisited' by Peter Davies. Old Bakehouse Publications 1994
'The Art of Alan Kingsbury' by Frank Whitford ('Sunday Times' art critic) Francis Kyle Gallery Catalogue 1996
'Alan Kingsbury' by Martin Gayford (Art critic, 'The Spectator') Francis Kyle Gallery Catalogue 1998
'Around The Galleries' by John Russell Taylor 'The Times' October 27th 1998
'Alan Kingsbury' by Rachel Campbell-Johnston ( Art critic, 'The Times') Francis Kyle gallery Catalogue 2001
'Inshaws Insights' by David Inshaw RWA. RWA Friends Magazine. Spring 2006
'Hats Off To Kingsbury' by Deborah Harris. Artists and Illustrators Magazine February 2007
'Alan Kingsbury, The Artist at Work' by Robin Capon. Leisure Painter Magazine June 2007
'St. Ives 1975-2005, Art Colony in Transition' by Peter Davies 2007
'Studio Practice, The Choice of a Subject' by Oliver Lange. The Artist Magazine March 2008