Independent Thursday 03 November 2011
Adrian Berg: Artist and teacher acclaimed for his lush, luxuriant landscapes
In 1980 when a 25-year travelling retrospective of Adrian Berg's work opened in Rochdale, he was interviewed for the exhibition catalogue by one Silas Tomkyn Comberbache. The first question was: "Why did you become an artist?" Berg replied, "I can't answer any questions beginning 'why'." Such a response was typical, but it becomes even more revealing when you find out that the interviewer was an artifice created by Berg himself. He was a man whose ability to challenge was matched by his ability to charm, his mischievous wit and his talent as a landscape painter.
His rich use of colour, along with a dedication to detail rooted in the classical tradition, made Berg a landscape painter of extraordinarily beautiful works even while he rejected pervading fashions.Following his own path, he never gained the fame of some of his contemporaries,so could continue to enjoy challenging from the sidelines.
He was born in London in 1929, the son of Charles Berg, the psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, who met and corresponded with Freud.His paternal family originated in Russia, from where his grandfather and settled in India as a timber merchant. He began drawing at an early age,influenced by the sights and sounds of Regents Park and later Harley Street,where he lived. He won his first drawing prize at prep school, and more in his teens at Charterhouse and the Royal College of Art sketch club.
He went to Cambridge to read medicine, lasting a year before switching to English, followed by a Diploma in Education at Trinity College, Dublin before deciding at last to pursue fine art at St Martins,Chelsea and the RCA.
Berg initially devoted much time to life drawings of black men. The fact that life drawing was key to his early work is no accident:he believed in the importance of a good education. While his appreciation of poetry and literature never left him (he was quoting Shelly and Auden on his death bed), he didn't believe one could be a good painter without mastering the basics. At St Martin's, Douglas Holden took his students round London to practise watercolour; Berg often said how hard it was, but how revealing. His watercolours of the Lake District are some of his most beautiful paintings.
After leaving the RCA and settling into a studio in Gloucester Gate, overlooking Regents Park, he began to develop his style. His first one-man show, at Arthur Tooth's in 1964, saw him moving from a geometric style to recording details of the changing views from his flat, using the windowpanes as a frame for each changing season.
He was with Waddington Galleries from 1978-83 then The Piccadilly until 1999. As his work became more complex, recording, the ripples in water and the effect of rain and wind, he often said, "I just paint what I see". Yet even while analysing nature's patterns he was turning eastwards, musing about Persian carpets, Islamic art and Chinese classical painting, a subject he devoted much time to in his last decade.
Berg won the gold medal at the Florence Biennale in 1973, had a major retrospective at the Serpentine in 1986 which received the National Trust's Foundation for Art Award. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1992. He was supported for 37 years by his partner Mike Osmund, with whom he moved to Brighton in the 1980's. Here, Berg focused on public gardens such Stourhead, Sheffield Park and Kew, as well as Beachy Head.
In 1999 he was provided by the Tate with a studio assistant, Sam Clarke, who facilitated a tour of the Antipodes, where, inspired by the lush foliage, Berg expanded his range, creating opulent works luxuriating in colour and form; he cited his main influences as Monet, Matisse and Bonnard.
An excellent teacher, Berg taught at Camberwell,Central and the RCA – where Tracey Emin, who became a friend, called him"Bergy Baby". He bemoaned being "forcibly retired" at 60; I once had the pleasure of going to an exhibition of Bonnard with him; I learnt more than I could have in a year of study.
He enjoyed regular visits to London, and loved the deadline pressure of the Summer Exhibition and dealers' shows, once writing tome, "Guess what? I've already met both deadlines so can enjoy what early spring there may be." He quoted WB Yeats' poem "Imitated from the Japanese": "Hurrah for the flowers of spring / For spring is here again /
Seventy years have I lived ... Seventy years man and boy, / And never have I danced for joy." He added: "but I was dancing to UB40's 'Red, Red Wine' sometime between 3 and 4 am."
-Julia Berg
1947-9 National Service - Royal Signals
1949-52 Gonville and Caius Collage,Cambridge
1952-3 Trinity College, Dublin
1953-5 Worked as schoolteacher
1955-6 St Martin's School of Art, London
1956-8 Chelsea School of Fine Art,London
1958-61 Royal College of Art, London
1961 Moved into flat at Gloucester Gate,Regent's Park, London
1961-78 Taught at various art schools,in particular at
Central School of Art and Design,London, and Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, London
1964 First Solo Exhibition at Arthur Tooth & Sons, London
1969 Moved to top-floor flat at Gloucester Gate, Regent's Park, London
1973 Awarded Gold Medal at Florence Biennale, Italy
1985 Moved to Cambridge Gate, Regent's Park, London
1980 Prize-winner at John Moores Liverpool Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1981 First Solo Exhibition, Waddington Gallery, London
1985 First Solo Exhibition, Piccadilly Gallery, London
1986 Retrospective, Serpentine Gallery,London
1987-8 Elected Senior Tutor, Royal College of Art
1988 Moved to Hove, East Sussex
1992 Elected Royal Academician
1993 Retrospective, Barbican Gallery,London
1994 Elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art
Selected Collections
Arts Council Collections, Southbank Centre
Atkinson Art Gallery, Southport
Barclays Bank, UK
City of Bradford
Brighton and Hove Museums and Art Galleries
The British Council
The British Museum
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary
London Borough of Camden, Town Hall Extension
Carlisle Museum and Art Gallery
Contemporary Art Society
Dartington Hall
East Sussex County Council
The European Parliament
Government Art Collection
Guildhall Art Gallery
Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan
Hove Museum and Art Gallery
Leeds City Art Gallery
The University of Liverpool Art Gallery
Manchester City Art Gallery
The National Trust
Pallant House Gallery
Penguin Books Ltd
Rochdale Art Gallery
Royal Academy of Arts
The Royal Bank of Scotland
The Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Physicians
Tate
Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Japan
Touchstones Rochdale
Victoria Gallery and Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
Selected Solo Exhibitions
1964, '67, '69, '72,& '75
Arthur Tooth & Sons, London
1973 Galleria Vaccarino, Florence
1976 Galerie Burg Diesdonk, Dusseldorf
1978 Waddington & Tooth Galleries,London
Yehudi Menuhin School, Surrey
1979 Waddington & Tooth Galleries,Montreal and Toronto
Hokin Gallery Inc., Chicago
1980 Rochdale Art Gallery
1981 & '83 Waddington Galleries,London
1984 Serpentine Gallery (South Gallery),London
1985, '88, '89, '91, '93, '99 & 2002
The Piccadilly Gallery, London
1986 Serpentine Gallery, London, and touring to:
The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, and Polytechnic Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
1992 The Gardener Centre (Gallery & Studio), University of Sussex
1993 Barbican Centre, London, and touring to:
Victoria Gallery, Bath; City Art Gallery, Plymouth; Newport Museum & Art Gallery;
Mappin Gallery, Sheffield; Hatton Gallery,Sheffield, and Royal Botanic Gallery, Edinburgh
1994 Rye Art Gallery, East Sussex
1999 & 2009 Royal Academy, London
Dartington Hall Gallery, Devon
2008 Richmond Hill Gallery, London
2012 Pallant House Gallery (memorial exhibition), Chichester
2017 Hall Place and Gardens(retrospective curated by Art wise), Bexley
2018 -23 Frestonian Gallery, London
Selected Group Exhibitions
1955 Summer Exhibition, Redfern Gallery, London
1955 & '60 Young Contemporaries, RBA Galleries, London
1961 The British School at Rome, Commonwealth Institute, London
1962, '63 & '64 St Pancras Artists, London
1965 British Painters, Arthur Tooth & Sons,
London Pop and Op, Modern British Painting, Geneva
1966 New Graphics, Arts Council Gallery,
Cambridge Colour, Form and Texture,Arthur Tooth & Sons, London
1967 How They Started, Oxford University
1968 25 Camden Artists, Swiss Cottage Library, London
1969-70 John Moores Exhibition 7, The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1970-80 The British Arts Show (selected by William Packer) (touring)
1970 & yearly until 2011 Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
Selection from the Royal Academy, Art Exhibition Bureau (touring)
1973 Landscape, Serpentine, Gallery, London
Critic's Choice (selected by William Varley),
Gulbenkian Gallery and Florence Biennale
1974 John Moores Exhibition 9, The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
British Painting, Hayward Gallery,London
1975 The English Landscape, Usher Gallery, Lincoln
National Art Exhibition, Chichester
1976 The Human Clay (selected by R.B Kitaj), Hayward Gallery, London
1977 1st Tolly Cobbold, Fitzwilliam Museum , Cambridge
1978 English Realism, Waddington Galleries, Montreal
1979 The Camden Scene - 18th C to the present day, Camden Arts Centre, London
Tolly Cobbold, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
1980 John Moores Exhibition 12, The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1981-1 Israel Observed (elected by Helene Marks), Israel Museum, Jerusalem
The Spirit of London, Royal Festival Hall and The Stock Exchange, London
1981 3rd Tolly Cobbold, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Contemporary Artists in Camden, Camden Arts Centre, London
1982 Aspects of British Art Today (British Council Exhibition), Tokyo Metropollian Art Museum and touring Japan
British Drawing, Hayward Gallery,London, and Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
Presences of Nature (selected by Neil Hanson), Carlise Museum & Art Gallery
Enter the Garden, Ellingham Mill Art Society Gallery, Suffolk
Sainsbury's Images for Today, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffiled
Small works, Polytechnic Art Gallery,Newcastle-upon-Tyne
1982-3 John Moores Exhibition 13, The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1983 The Granada Collection, Withworth Art Gallery, Manchester
Group VI, Waddington Galleries, London
New Landscape Paintings (selected by Andy Ashton), Bury Art Gallery
53-83- Three Decades of Artists from Inner London Art Schools, Royal Academy of Arts, London
The Artist's London, Gillian Jason Gallery, London
1984 The Hard-Won Image, Tate, London
A View from my Window, Angela Flowers Gallery, London
1985 John Moores Exhibition 14, The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Summer in the City (selected by Antonia Payne), Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
British Artists in Italy, 1920-80, The Herbert Read Gallery, Canterbury College
Printmaking Department RCA,Rijksakademie, Stadhouderskade, Amsterdam
1986 Art in the Home, Arts Council &Liberty, Earls Court, London
Finest Prospects, Three Historic Houses,English Heritage, Kenwood, London
Contemporary British and Malaysian Art 1986, National Gallery, Kuala Lumpur; National
Gallery, Bangkok; Hong Kong Arts Centre and The National Gallery, Singapore
1987 John Moores Exhibition 15, The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Athena Art Awards 1987, Barbican Centre,London
Knowing Your Place, The London Ecology Centre
Landscapes, Castfield Gallery,Manchester
Introducing with Pleasure - Star Choices from the Arts Council Collection, Gardner Art
Centre, University of Sussex, and touring
Small Is Beautiful, Angela Flowers Gallery, London
Land, Sea, Air, The Herbert Read Gallery, Canterbury College and touring
The Long Perspective, National Trust Foundation for Art, Thomas Agnew & Sons, London
1988 Exhibition Road - Painters at the Royal College of Art (150th Anniversary of the RCA), London
Reflections, CCA Galleries, London
Kew - The British Garden, CCA Galleries,London
Mother and Child, The Lefevre Gallery,London
Sunday Times Watercolour Competition,The Mall Galleries, London
Artists in National Parks, Victoria& Albert Museum and touring
Stormstruck, The National Trust Foundation for Art at Petworth House
1989 The Tree of Life, South Bank Exhibition Centre, London, and Cornerhuse,Manchester
Within These Shores, Graves Art Gallery,Sheffield
The Royal College, Galerie zur AltenDuetschen Schule, Thun, Switzerland
Images of Paradise, Harewood House,Yorkshire, and Christie's, London
1990 London's Pride, The Museum of London
3 Ways - Contemporary British Painting,The British Council, touring to Hungary, Poland,
Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and across Africa
9 Contemporary Painters (selected by Andrew Lambirth), Bristol Art Gallery
Nicholas & Andrei Tooth Memorial Exhibition, Albemarle Gallery, London
Tribute to Peter Fuller, Beaux Arts,Bath
The Forces of Nature, Manchester City Art Gallery and Harris Museum and Art
Gallery, Preston
The Tree, Chris Beetles Gallery, London
RSPB Fine Arts, RSPB at Hastings and Bonhams, London
1991 Hortus Cambrensis, National Trust Art Foundation at Erddig, Clwyd
Cabinet Paintings, Gillian Jason Gallery, London
1992 Contemporary Colourists' Gallery 10, London and Flying Colours,Edinburgh
The Celebrated City, Barbican Centre,London
The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries,London
1993 Moving into view, Arts Council Collection at the South Bank Centre,London
Innovation and Tradition; Recent Painting in Britain, Tate, London
The Sussex Scene, Hove and Eastbourne Art Galleries
John Moores Exhibition 18, The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Summer Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
Small is Beautiful, Flowers East, London(and in '94 and '95)
1994 Here and Now, Serpentine Gallery, London
The Peter Greenham Memorial Exhibition,Christie's London
The Garden Party, Shire Hall Gallery,Stratford
1995 Centenary, The National Trust's Foundation for Art at Christie's, London
Works on Paper by Royal Academicians,Coram Gallery, London, and New Ashgate Gallery, Surrey
Alive! - Brighton since the 60s, University of Brighton Gallery
1996 From Place to Place, Barbican Centre, London
Woven Image, Barbican Centre, London,and touring
New Paintings, British Airways at Heathrow, London
1997-8 The Subjects of Art, Lothbury Gallery, London
1998 Eye Contact, The Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne
Landscapes of England, Royal Academy,London
Portraits of Places, Lothbury Gallery,London
Painter Progress - The RCA Collection, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester Gardens,
A.T. Kearney's of Berkeley Square,London
1999 Brighton Up!, Brewery Arts, Cirencester, and the Black Swan Guild,Somerset
Nature in Art, Wallsworth Hall,Gloucester
The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries,London
2000 The Guildhall Art Gallery Collection, Guildhall Art Gallery, London
Pastel Painting and Drawing 1898-2000,Mall Galleries, London
Order and Event - Landscape Now, Space Gallery, London
2001 Royal Watercolour Society Exhibition, Bankside Gallery, London
Real Encounters, South Eastern Arts,Hastings Pier Gallery
2003 The View, Waterstones, London
2004 Art of the Garden, Tate, London
2005 Visual Wit, Royal Academy (Friends Room and galleries ), London
2008 Adrian Berg's Gardens Solo Show The Richmond Hill Gallery, London
2012 Critic's Choice (selected by Andrew Lambirth),Browse & Darby, London
2017 The Luminous Language, Frestonian Gallery, London
2018 Year One, Frestonian Gallery, London
2020 The Green Fuse, Frestonian Gallery, London
2022 Unnatural Nature: Post-Pop Landscapes. Curated by Todd Bradway. Acquavella New York
Lustrum Frestonian, Celebrating 5 Years of the Frestonian Gallery, London
2023 Over Land And Sea Part II. Hunter Dunbar Projects, New York
Collection Highlights + Collection Relations. Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Arts, Japan
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