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Maurice Cockrill

Maurice Cockrill RA (1936) has been the Keeper of the Royal Academy Schools since 2005. This is the apogee of a long and varied teaching career, which has extended from 1967 to the present and included many prestigious institutions such as the Royal College of Art, the Slade and St. Martin’s School of Art.

Cockrill has changed his style several times over the course of his career, and is now working in an increasingly abstract style, ‘Not that I won’t change again if it’s the right thing. I’m certainly not one of those artists who finds a look early on sticks to it, perhaps nervous that collectors of fans might turn against them. Early on I did precise, photorealist things. And I used to stand there, photo in one hand, No 6 sable brush in the other, making tiny marks and thinking, “This just isn’t me”. I realised I needed a more direct, physical involvement with what I was doing’.

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Though Cockrill’s most recent works may appear abstract, Cockrill insists. ‘Every picture is about something, even if I only find the title after I’ve finished. His recent canvases are built up with layers of bold contrasting colours, often juxtaposing organic circular shapes with cutting vertical lines. He was born in Hartlepool in 1936, and grew up in and around Liverpool and the North-west. He studied at Wrexham School of Art and the University of Reading (1960-64).

Maurice Cockrill is one of the most versatile painters to have emerged in the UK since the Second World War. Restless, lyrical and challenging, his work is constantly evolving, defying conventional categorization. Always at odds with both the mainstream and the avant-garde, owing to his commitment to painting and the notion of skilled work, Cockrill is nothing if not rigorous in his approach to his art. In 1968, already in his early thirties, he destroyed everything he had produced up to that date and started again from scratch. Within twenty years the gamble had paid off, as his international reputation flourished in the 1980s with solo shows in Europe and New York.

Maurice Cockrill's work is in many private and public collections including the British Museum, Art Council of Great Britain, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool and the Royal Academy of Arts. A retrospective of his work was held at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool in 1995 and a further retrospective was held at the Royal West of England Academy in 1998. Cockrill lives and works in London.

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Study for Pathology-Heart
510 mm X 610 mm
call for availability
Mending a Broken Heart
405 mm X 510 mm
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Clare's Inspiration
420 mm X 553 mm
£ 600.00