About

Artbiogs has been researched and produced by Geoff Hassell, drawing on the in-depth knowledge and experience he gained through more than 45 years as an avid collector and more than 25 years as a reputable art dealer. Geoff, who is well known and equally well regarded amongst the art-collecting and gallery community, is also responsible for the definitive publication on Camberwell School of Arts & Crafts.

The number of reference books and materials available on British and Irish art from the late Victorian era to the present is huge. Artbiogs aim to aggregate, and perhaps add as much salient information as possible from these books, in one place, online. By its very nature, 'Artbiogs' is not, and probably will never be, definitive. New information is always coming to light so that updates will happen regularly. Indeed, we invite you to contact us with any corrections or new information you feel you may have. The professional, i.e. formally trained artists, are not separated from the amateur, though they are far greater in number. Further, not every artist was British or Irish-born. But where, in our opinion, they have contributed to the British art scene, they are referenced here. If an artist has never lived or worked into the 20th or 21st centuries or, in our opinion, contributed to the British art scene (other than by exhibition), they are not in our curricula vitae.

Groups, movements, schools, art galleries and societies have been an inextricable part of the art scene in the UK since the middle of the 19th century. We have therefore referenced, albeit with brief details, both the lesser and better-known of these. The aim of 'Artbiogs' was never to produce an in-depth study, but rather to provide potted synopses that are useful and informative to the dealer, auction house, student, researcher and collector alike.

Also, we feel that many people are mystified by the strings of letters attached to artists' names and the welter of associations and institutions included in their biographies. We hope that these specific sections of 'Artbiogs' will make their viewing more meaningful and, therefore, more enjoyable. Although this is essentially a collection of British organisations, a handful of European schools and movements — such as the Académie Julian and Bauhaus — have been included because we feel that their influence has played a major role in the direction and development of British art and artists. For the same reason, several galleries that were, or still are, recognised for their strong support and encouragement of both the traditional and the avant-garde artists are also included, whose names crop up repeatedly in the chronicles of nineteenth-, twentieth-, and twenty-first-century art in Britain.

Finally, we have included, wherever possible, a bibliographic reference to the individual artists, societies, schools and movements. These may be a specific biography, monograph, autobiography, reference work or contain examples of an artist's work. Not every book referring to an artist has been included. We would be happy to hear of other books that we might consider for inclusion.