Born in
In
1962 he returned to Walthamstow to study painting and subsequently went on to
the Royal College of Art. Between 1967 and 1975, Jacklin taught at
Initially
concerned with abstraction, his work moved to figuration in the mid-1970s, when
it became preoccupied with the effects of light and movement.
Jacklin
was awarded an Arts Council Bursary in 1975, the year that marked his first two
solo exhibitions at the Upper Gallery and at Nigel Greenwood in London. His
work continued to be exhibited in one-man shows throughout the seventies in
London and later in the eighties in London and New York with Marlborough Fine
Art and Marlborough Gallery, respectively. He also participated in numerous
group exhibitions internationally from the early seventies. Jacklin has
undertaken many commissions, notably from the Bank of England, the Ivy
Restaurant, De Beers and most recently from the Metropolitan Washington
Airports Authority for the North Terminal of Washington National Airport.
Moving
to New York in 1985, Bill Jacklin has concentrated on painting 'Urban
Portraits' of the city in all its guises; from large scale canvases of crowds
in flux to intimate moments in Seurat-like etchings. He was elected a Royal
Academician in 1991 and in 1993 was Official Artist-in-Residence for the
British Council in Hong Kong. Jacklin presently lives and works in New York.
'As a child living in London during the 50s,
it was a great treat to be able to leave the city to visit the countryside. One
year my sister and I were invited by neighbours to visit Dorset and Devon. I
still have memories of feeling the morning dew on my face and the
farmhouse smells enveloping me which was so different to a war-torn London with
its endless fog.'
'I learnt to swim that summer, largely by
being swept too far out to sea by its undercurrents and having to somewhat
manically dog paddle my way back to shore. I guess that's a metaphor of some
sort.’ - Bill
Jacklin, May 2011
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