Richard Sorrell RBA NEAC PPRWS
Statement
Richard Sorrell is a painter of invented figurative pictures or, put more simply: ‘People doing things’. He works in oil and acrylic paint as well as in watercolour. His career started as a predominantly landscape, portrait and still life painter – by instinct a draughtsman, and interested in the appearance of things, particularly plants and animals – an objective painter. His subjective painting – the invented compositions – was a smaller part of his work at this time, but the inventions have come to greater prominence since the 1990s.
Bio
Richard Sorrell was born in 1948, the son of Alan Sorrell, the historical draughtsman and painter, and Elizabeth Sorrell, the watercolourist. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools (Post Graduate Course), having also attended Walthamstow Art School (Pre-Diploma) and Kingston College of Art (Dip AD). He was elected to the Royal Watercolour Society in 1975, served as Vice President of that society 2002 - 05, and was elected President 2006 - 09. He was an Executive Committee member of the New English Art Club 1995 - 2006 and 2009 - 10, and is also a member of the Royal Society of British Artists (by whom he was awarded The de Laszlo Medal in 2002). He is a member of the Small Paintings Group, the Art Workers Guild and the Chelsea Arts Club. Richard Sorrell has also served as an Executive Committee member of the National Artists Association. He was a Governor of Mall Galleries from 2000 - 06.