Raymond John "Jack" Coutu

ARE Are commonly refers to: * Are (unit), a unit of area equal to 100 m2 Are, ARE or Åre may also refer to: Places * Åre, a locality in Sweden * Åre Municipality, a municipality in Sweden **Åre ski resort in Sweden * Are Parish, a municipa ...

ARCA (13 September 1924 – 17 May 2017) was an English printmaker, sculptor, etcher, engraver, carver, watercolourist and teacher. He was influenced by

Oriental The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

art. Jack Coutu was born Raymond John Coutu at

Farnham Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a trib ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, England, and was educated at

Farnham Grammar School Farnham Grammar School is now called Farnham College which is located in Farnham, Surrey, southern England. History The grammar school was created at some time before 1585 (the date of a donation being made by a Richard Searle "to the maintenan ...

. On leaving school in 1940, he worked at Abbott of Farnham, a coachbuilding company in Farnham, where his father Bert Coutu was also employed painting coats of arms and heraldic shields. In 1942, at the age of 18 during World War II, he joined the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

, where after training he served in

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

(now

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

), India, and Singapore. At the end of WWII, he was in Kure,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, in the

Hiroshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 8,479 km² (3,274 sq mi). Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama ...

. From 1947 to 1951, Coutu studied at the Farnham School of Art, followed by the Royal College of Art in London from 1951 to 1954 and the Central School of Art from 1951 to 1955. At the Central School of Art, Merlin Evans was an influence on Coutu's printmaking. Coutu taught printmaking at the Central School of Art from 1957 to 1965 and then at the West Surrey College of Art and Design in Farnham from 1965 to 1985. In 1968, he started to carve netsuke (as practised in

) and he joined the Netsuke Kenkyukai Society, based in the United States. He is also a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers and the

Printmakers Council The London-based Printmakers Council, founded in 1965, aims to promote the art of printmaking (through providing information, encouraging co-operation and holding exhibitions) and the work of contemporary printmakers. Their office is situated in ...

. Jack Coutu has exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

in London, netsuke conventions, jointly with Michael Rothenstein at the Alecto Gallery in 1965, and at the Graphic Arts Gallery in 1968. His work is in the permanent collections of the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...

, Cartwright Hall art gallery in

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, King Gustave of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Coutu never married and lived with his sister, Peggy, who died ten days after him. They are both buried next to their parents in Farnham.

References

External links

Jack Coutu
works from

MutualArt MutualArt.com is an art information website that provides auction prices, personalized updates and data on a number of artists. MutualArt.com also includes an online art appraisals service. Premium Members have access to the site's Art Market An ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coutu, Jack 1924 births 2017 deaths People from Farnham British Army personnel of World War II Royal Corps of Signals soldiers Alumni of the Royal College of Art Alumni of the University for the Creative Arts Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design Academics of the Central School of Art and Design English printmakers English sculptors English male sculptors English engravers 20th-century English painters English male painters 21st-century English painters English watercolourists English woodcarvers 20th-century British sculptors 20th-century British printmakers 20th-century English male artists 21st-century English male artists 20th-century engravers