Sir Christopher Mark Le Brun PPRA (born 1951) is a British artist, known primarily as a painter. He was President of the Royal Academy of Arts from the time of his election in 2011 to December 2019. Le Brun was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

in the

2021 New Year Honours The 2021 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to the arts.

Biography

Le Brun was born in Portsmouth in 1951. From 1970-74, he studied for the DFA at

Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

and for an MA at

Chelsea College of Arts Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation. It offers further education, further ...

between 1974–75. He has taught and lectured at art schools, including

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

the Slade The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament const ...

, Wimbledon and Royal Drawing School. His first solo exhibition was in 1980 with Nigel Greenwood Gallery and soon after he was included in international exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale and ''Zeitgeist'' at

Martin-Gropius-Bau Martin-Gropius-Bau, commonly known as Gropius Bau, is an important exhibition building in Berlin, Germany. Originally a museum of applied arts, the building has been a listed historical monument since 1966. It is located at 7 Niederkirchnerstra ...

, Berlin. His international art include,
An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture
at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of th ...

, New York in 1984, "Avant-garde in the Eighties" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1987 and "Contemporary Voices" at MoMA in 2005. He was one of the five artists shortlisted for a monumental sculpture commission, the Ebbsfleet Landmark (

Angel of the South The White Horse at Ebbsfleet, formerly the Ebbsfleet Landmark, colloquially the ''Angel of the South'', was a planned white horse statue to be built in the Ebbsfleet Valley in Kent, England. Designed by Mark Wallinger to faithfully resemble a t ...

) in 2008. In 2011, he was the chief co-ordinator of the Royal Academy

Summer Exhibition The Summer Exhibition is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the months of June, July, and August. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, sc ...

. On 8 December 2011, he was elected president of the Royal Academy and interviewed about his role by the Guardian Professional Networks in 2013. During his presidency, he was closely involved in the most significant redevelopment in the academy’s 250 year history. Le Brun stepped down in December 2019. He lives and works in London and is married to the artist Charlotte Verity.

Printmaking

Le Brun is an experienced printmaker working in etching, lithography, woodcut and monotype. He had long term collaborations with Peter Kosowicz and Simon Marsh of the former Hope Sufferance Press as well as Paupers Press in London, Garner and Richard Tullis in Santa Barbara, Michael Woolworth Publications in Paris and Graphic Studio in Dublin. Most recently, he has been working to great acclaim with Paragon Press in London.

Works

*
City Wing
', 2009–13, 1,050 x 325 x 60 cm, bronze. A monumental sculpture was installed on Threadneedle Walk in Bank, London in 2013. *A cast of his large bronze sculpture, ''

Union (Horse with Two Discs) ''Union (Horse with Two Discs)'' is a bronze sculpture by Christopher Le Brun, made in 1999–2000 in an edition of three large casts. It depicts a horse standing square on four legs, flanked on either side by a large disc. The sculpture meas ...

'' 1999–2000, was acquired by and installed at the entrance to the

Museum of London The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall Museum (fou ...

in 2005. This was Le Brun's first large scale bronze. Notable publications includ
''Seven Lithographs''
1989, ''Fifty Etchings'' 1991
''Four Riders''
1993
''Wagner''
1994
Motif Light
1998, ''Paris Lithographs'' 2000
''Fifty Etchings''
2005, ''Seri
Ludo
' 2015–2016,
Composer
' 2017,
Doubles
' 2018,
New Painting
' 2018.

Public collections

*His work can be found in museum collections including the

and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Yale Center for British Art, New Haven;

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

, the V&A and the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...

, London; and

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

, Sydney.

References

External links

* *
Profile
on website Royal Academy of Arts *
Lisson Gallery, London

Albertz Benda, New York
{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Brun, Christopher Living people 1951 births Artists from Portsmouth Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art English sculptors English male sculptors 20th-century English painters English male painters 21st-century English painters English printmakers Royal Academicians 20th-century British sculptors 21st-century sculptors Knights Bachelor 20th-century English male artists 21st-century English male artists Neo-expressionist artists