Ivor Abrahams
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Overview
Ivor Abrahams was a British sculptor, ceramicist, and printmaker best known for his polychrome sculptures and his stylised prints of garden scenes. He studied at Saint Martin's School of Art under Anthony Caro from 1952 to 1953 and at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts under Karel Vogel from 1954 to 1957. In 1957, Abrahams went on to apprentice at the Fiorini Art Bronze Foundry and worked as a display artist for Adel Rootstein. After traveling extensively through Europe, Abrahams began his teaching career in 1960. He served as a visiting lecturer at Birmingham School of Art, Coventry College of Art, Goldsmiths' College, the Royal College of Art, and the Slade School of Fine Art. From 2007 to 2010, he was a professor of sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools.
Ivor Abrahams's first show was with Peter Blake at Portal Gallery in 1960. He also exhibited in the landmark 22 Young Sculptors exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1961. By the late 1960s, Abrahams found inspiration in the imagery of domestic gardens. He began experimenting with new materials, including bronze, nylon flocking, pre-vulcanized latex, styrene and plastics. His first solo show in the United States took place at Richard Feigen Gallery in 1970. Abrahams established his international reputation with a major museum show at the Kölnischer Kunstverein in Cologne in 1973. He went on to have many solo shows in museums and private galleries across Europe and the United States. These shows included a major retrospective at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 1984.
Abrahams died on 6 January 2015 in Ramsgate, Kent.
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Biography
1935 Born in Wigan, Lancashire on 10 January
1952 Studied at Saint Martin's School of Art under Anthony Caro
1954 Studied at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts under Karel Vogel
1957 Finished studies at Camberwell School and started apprenticeship at Fiorini Art bronze foundry
1960 Became a visiting lecturer in sculpture at Birmingham School of Art and Coventry College of Art
1989 Elected Associate of the Royal Academy on 31 May
1991 Elected Royal Academician on 26 June as a sculptor
1992 Moved to the South of France
1999 Returned to London
2007 Became a professor of sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools
2010 Elected Senior Royal Academician on 1 October
2015 Died on 6 January
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
1960 Portal Gallery
1961 26 Young Sculptors, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), London
1970 Richard Feigen Gallery, USA
1973 Kolnisher Kunstverein, Cologne
1976 Art Inglese Oggi, Pallazzo Reale, Milan
1977 Silver Jubilee Exhibition of Contemporary British Sculpture, Battersea Park
1981 Landscape Prints, Tate Gallery, London
1982 British Sculpture in the 20th Century, Whitechapel Art Gallery
1984 Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK
1987 Galerie Albrecht, Munich
1989 Miriam Shiell Fine Art, Toronto
1991 Galerie Salis, Salzburg
1993 Sculpture 93, Chelsea Harbour, London
1994 Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London
1995 Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London (Sculpture retrospective - 5 decades)
1999 Royal Academy of Arts, London (Prints retrospective)
Mayor Gallery, London; Ian Mackenzie Fine Arts
2000 Sculpture at Goodwood (Commission)
Bronze, British Contemporary Sculpture, Holland Park, London
2001 Carnival of Animals, The Hague
A P Gianini Gallery, San Francisco, from Bank of America Collection (Prints)
2005 A Parliament of Owl, Mayor Gallery, London
2007 The Four Seasons of Ivor Abrahams at One Canada Square in Canary Wharf
2008 By Leafy Ways, Henry Moore Foundation, UK
Ivor Abrahams: Painted Sculpture, The Mayor Gallery, London
Coriander Prints @ Jill George Gallery, Jill George Gallery, London
2011 Suburban encounter, Mayor Gallery, London
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, UK
Ivor Abrahams: Mystery and Imagination, Royal Academy of Arts, London
2012 Ivor Abrahams: Eden and Other Suburbs, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
2015 Black White & One, UpDown Gallery, Ramsgate
Ivor Abrahams, Updown Gallery, Ramsgate
2016 Ivor Abrahams: Poised Companions, The Mayor Gallery, London
Wreck and Ruin, Falmouth Art Gallery, Falmouth
2019 Prints I wish I had published, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, UK
Prints I have published, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, UK
The Mayor Gallery at TEFAF Maastricht 2019, The Mayor Gallery, UK
Ivor Abrahams: The garden and other themes, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, UK
Some of the artists I have worked for, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, UK
From the Figure, Miriam Shiell Fine Art, Toronto
2020 The 70s: Explosion of colours, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, UK
2022 Mixed Show, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, UK
2023 Maximalism: More is More, Shapero Modern, UK
2024 8 Golden Square Group Show, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, UK
Pools on paper, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, UK
Summer Show, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, UK
2025 Spring Show, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, UK
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Aberdeen Art Gallery
Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol
Arts Council of Great Britain
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
Bradford Art Gallery and Museum
British Council, London
Buymans Museum, Rotterdam
City Museum and Art Gallery, Portsmouth
Denver Museum, Colorado
Fort Lauderdale Museum, Florida
Liechtensteinische Staatliche Kunstsammlung, Vaduz
Liverpool University
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Middlesbrough Art Gallery
Minneapolis Art Institute
Moore College, Philadelphia
Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Norton College of Art, Miami
Rice University, Texas
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Sharjah Art Museum, UAE
Stoke City Art Gallery
Strassburg Museum
Tate Gallery, London
Vassar College Art Gallery, New York
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Wedgwood Museum, Stoke-on-Trent
Wilhem Lembruch Museum, Duisburg
Williams College Museum of Art, Williamston
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Exhibitions
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Spring Show
3 Apr - 5 May 2025Bernard Jacobson Gallery presents a mixed show of gallery artists. Artists include Ivor Abrahams, Georges Braque, Robyn Denny, Robert Dukes, Sam Francis, Sol LeWitt, Henri Matisse, Bruce McLean, Robert Motherwell, Ed Ruscha, Richard Smith, Frank Stella, William Tillyer, Tom Wesselmann and Marc Vaux.Read more -
Summer Show
4 Jul - 7 Sep 2024Read more -
Pools on Paper
4 Jul - 7 Sep 2024Read more -
8 Golden Square: Group Show
15 Mar - 27 Apr 2024Read more -
Mixed Show
10 - 30 Nov 2022Bernard Jacobson Gallery presents a mixed show of gallery artists. Artists include Ivor Abrahams, Georges Braque, Paul Cézanne, Robyn Denny, Sam Francis, John Hoyland, Henri Matisse, Bruce McLean, Henry Moore, Robert Motherwell, Richard Smith, William Tillyer, and Marc Vaux.Read more -
The 70s: Explosion of Colours
Online Exhibition 28 Apr - 30 May 2020Read more -
Some of the artists I have worked for
10 Sep - 5 Oct 2019To end the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the gallery, we are delighted to introduce a selection of works by the artists that helped shaping its success.Read more -
Ivor Abrahams: The Garden and Other Themes
15 Mar - 18 Apr 2019Read more -
Prints I published
12 Feb - 9 Mar 2019In 1969 Bernard Jacobson began his career as an art dealer, selling and publishing prints by important contemporary artists from a small fourth-floor gallery in London’s Mayfair. For a gallery founded on printmaking and which continues to stage major print shows by artists including Matisse and Motherwell, what better way could there be to celebrate this half century than a two-part exhibition devoted to printmaking?Read more
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Art fairs
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IFPDA Print Fair
27 - 30 Mar 2025Bernard Jacobson Gallery is pleased to announce our participation in the 32nd edition of the IFPDA Print Fair. The gallery will present a selection of...Read more -
Frieze Masters
12 - 16 Oct 2022Bernard Jacobson Gallery is pleased to participate in this year’s edition of Frieze Masters. We look forward to welcoming you to booth C17. The gallery...Read more -
IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair
15 Oct - 3 Nov 2021View Artsy Fair BoothRead more -
London Original Print Fair
25 - 28 Apr 2019View Artsy Fair BoothRead more -
IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair
4 - 8 Nov 2015Read more
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Publications
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Works
