01 Work of the Canals of Venice, John Randall Bratby's Venice Canal, with footnotes, #126

JOHN BRATBY R.A. (BRITISH, 1928-1992)

Venice Canal, c. 1987-88

Oil on canvas

122 x 76cm (48 1/16 x 29 15/16in).

Private collection

Sold for £2,040 in May 2020

John Randall Bratby (1928-1992), studied at the Royal College of Art (1951-54), and it was for his generation of RCA students that David Sylvester coined the phrase 'Kitchen Sink', to describe the realism of their art. In 1956 he was included in the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, and in 1957 won first prize in the Junior Section of the John Moores Liverpool exhibition. Bratby's vigorous realism with its debt to Van Gogh and Soutine went out of fashion in a time of Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art in the 60s, during which he wrote the semi-autobiographical Breakdown (1960). In the 1970s he made it his task to paint portraits of 'names', from tycoons and businessmen to television stars. He became a Royal Academician in 1971. More on John Randall Bratby

More works by John Randall Bratby

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints, 365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest and my art stores at  deviantart and Aaroko

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02 Paintings of the Canals of Venice, John Randall Bratby's Flooded Square of San Marco, with footnotes #117

John Randall Bratby,  R.A. (BRITISH, 1928-1992)

The Flooded Square of San Marco

Oil on canvas

121 x 91cm

Private collection

Sold for £10,000 in May 2022

(CNN) -- Venice has suffered its worst flooding in 22 years, leaving some parts of the historic Italian city neck-deep in water, reports said Monday.

Water burst the banks of the coastal city's famed canals, leaving the landmark Piazza San Marco -- St Mark's Square -- under almost a meter of water at one point, news agency ANSA reported. Mon December 1, 2008

Piazza San Marco, often known in English as St Mark's Square, is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as la Piazza. The Piazzetta ("little Piazza/Square") is an extension of the Piazza towards San Marco basin in its southeast corner (see plan). The two spaces together form the social, religious and political centre of Venice and are referred to together. This article relates to both of them. More on Piazza San Marco

John Randall Bratby

Carnival Characters in Flooded St. Mark's Square, Venice, c. 1986

Oil painting

48ins x 36ins

Private collection

John Randall Bratby, (born July 19, 1928, Wimbledon, Surrey—died July 20, 1992, Hastings, East Sussex), British painter who rose to prominence in the 1950s as a member of the Kitchen Sink School, a group of British social-realist artists who paralleled the literary Angry Young Men of the decade.

Although he was accepted at the Slade School of Fine Art, Bratby attended the Royal College of Art (1951–54). His first solo exhibition, mounted at the Beaux Arts Gallery in London (1954), gained him instant popularity. For many years after his artwork appeared in the motion picture The Horse’s Mouth (1958), he was identified in the popular imagination with the film’s protagonist, a bohemian artist. Bratby was particularly known for the feverish speed at which he worked and for the thick texture of his vividly coloured, Expressionistic paintings, into which he often incorporated everyday objects. His productivity did not decline with his popularity in the 1960s, as he continued to create thousands of sketches and paintings, including hundreds of portraits. He wrote several autobiographical novels, notably Breakdown (1960), and served as editor in chief of Art Quarterly from 1987.

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints, 365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest and my art stores at  deviantart and Aaroko

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

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02 Paintings of the Canals of Venice by John Bratby, with footnotes. #87

John Bratby R.A. (British, 1928-1992)

Lazy Back Canal and Arch and Gondola in Venice 

Oil on canvas

91.5 x 121.5cm (36 x 47 13/16in)

Private collection

John Randall Bratby, (born July 19, 1928, Wimbledon, Surrey.—died July 20, 1992, Hastings, East Sussex), was a British painter who rose to prominence in the 1950s as a member of the Kitchen Sink School, a group of British social-realist artists who paralleled the literary Angry Young Men of the decade.

Although he was accepted at the Slade School of Fine Art, Bratby attended the Royal College of Art (1951–54). His first solo exhibition, mounted at the Beaux Arts Gallery in London (1954), gained him instant popularity. For many years after his artwork appeared in the motion picture The Horse’s Mouth (1958), he was identified in the popular imagination with the film’s protagonist, a bohemian artist. Bratby was particularly known for the feverish speed at which he worked and for the thick texture of his vividly coloured, Expressionistic paintings, into which he often incorporated everyday objects. His productivity did not decline with his popularity in the 1960s, as he continued to create thousands of sketches and paintings, including hundreds of portraits. He wrote several autobiographical novels, notably Breakdown (1960), and served as editor in chief of Art Quarterly from 1987. More on John Randall Bratby

John Bratby R.A. (British, 1928-1992)

Gondola, Venice 

Oil on canvas

114 x 89cm (44 7/8 x 35 1/16in)

Private collection

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

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01 Painting; the Canals of Venice, with foot notes. #72

John Randall Bratby R.A. (BRITISH 1928-1992) 

VENICE WASHING, c. 1988

Oil on canvas 

122cm x 92cm (47.5in x 35.8in)

Private collection

John Randall Bratby RA (19 July 1928 – 20 July 1992). Despite inauspicious beginnings at Kingston School of Art (which he left upon failing an intermediate exam in arts and crafts), John Bratby's enormous artistic potential soon earned him a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, and would see him become one of the major, and most colourful, figures in twentieth century British art. Originally drawn to Neo-Romanticism, in the post-war years Bratby would become a key exponent of the Kitchen Sink Movement, representing a dramatic shift towards realism and a sharp focus on the details of everyday existence, coupled with an angry sense of social inequality. 

Bratby's work was always suffused with intense colour, and this, along with the less specifically working-class setting of his paintings, distinguished his art from that of his contemporaries, though collectively they would represent Britain in the Venice Biennale of 1956. Although initially left uninspired by Italy when he visited it on a travelling scholarship, after the tumultous years of the 1950's in which he was decried and celebrated in equal measure by the British media, Italy, and Venice in particular, would prove an enduring fascination for Bratby.

He would travel throughout the eighties, creating works such as this painting, typical of his oeuvre in its thickly-applied and vibrant-toned paint, and in its celebration, not of the architectural glories of Venice, but rather the somewhat more quotidien detail of its residents' washing stretching over a canal to dry. More on John Randall Bratby

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.