Joe Austen & golfers at Gallery of Champions

Joseph Gerard "Joe" Austen is a British artist, writer, producer and director from

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Since 1976,The Gallery of Champions - Artist
/ref> a collection of his paintings have been on display in The Gallery of Champions within the

Rusacks Hotel Rusacks Hotel, previously known as Macdonald Rusacks Hotel between 2001 and 2019, is a 4-star hotel in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, overlooking the 1st and 18th greens on the Old Course at St Andrews, Old Course, St Andrews Links. When it first op ...

.The Gallery of Champions
/ref>Art Gallery Virtual Tour - Joe Austen, Rusacks Hotel St Andrews
/ref> For the 150th

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

in St. Andrews in 2010, six of golf’s greatest champions were made Honorees of The Gallery of Champions when Joe Austen painted their portraits.Deadline News - Golf's Greatest Legends Come Face to Face with their Portraits
/ref> Those portraits are now a permanent part of the gallery. Honorees included Tony Jacklin CBE,

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous ev ...

, Gary Player DMS; OIG, Sandy Lyle MBE and

Roberto De Vicenzo Roberto De Vicenzo (14 April 1923 – 1 June 2017) was a professional golfer from Argentina. He won a record 229 professional tournaments worldwide during his career, including seven on the PGA Tour and most famously the 1967 Open Championship. ...

attended the opening of the Gallery, along with Tony Jacklin CBE and Sandy Lyle MBE, and commented on the day, 'Joe Austen - your paintings will get you in to Heaven'.Golf Today - Champions at unveiling of Champions Collection
/ref> In the

, Joe Austen’s painting collections are grouped into four separate categories; the Macdonald Collection, the Historical Collection, the Portraits of the Royal Captains and the most recently launched Tony Jacklin Ryder Cup Collection. The collections have been described as "portraits of golfing legends through the centuries",Visit St Andrews
/ref> and the gallery was selected as the central location for the inaugural St Andrews Golf Festival in 2012 to showcase the strong links between St Andrews and golf.

Career

Golf Portraits

Tony Jacklin CBE and Joe Austen collaborated in 2014 to create The Tony Jacklin Ryder Cup Collection; a new series of hand-painted oil portraits and limited edition prints of those portraits, which Austen has said will "commemorate The Ryder Cup at

Gleneagles, Scotland Glen Eagles (Scottish Gaelic: Gleann na h-Eaglais/Gleann Eagas) is a glen which connects with Glen Devon to form a pass through the Ochil Hills of Perth and Kinross in Scotland. (The spelling as two words, 'Glen Eagles', is as shown on UK O ...

in 2014" Tony Jacklin CBE, a 'golfing icon' according to European Tour selected what he believed to be the 20 greatest players in the history of the

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

, and Joe Austen painted their portraits. Limited edition prints of The Tony Jacklin Ryder Cup Collection have been available online since the

2014. In 2011, Joe Austen's paintings were selected for the online launch of St Andrews Golf Art, a website which claims to offer "a unique selection of golf art from internationally-acclaimed contemporary artists, sculptors and illustrators"Dave Donelson Tee to Green - Great Golf Art Online
/ref> In 2010, Joe Austen undertook a similar venture to The Tony Jacklin Ryder Cup Collection, in collaboration with

Rolex Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of ...

. To commemorate the 150th year of The Open Championship,

commissioned Joe Austen to paint a composite portrait of

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), nicknamed The Golden Bear, is a retired American professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest go ...

, and Gary Player DMS; OIG, from which 250 Limited Edition Prints were produced. All of the prints were signed by

, Gary Player DMS; OIG and Joe Austen, and presented by

as gifts to valued clients. Joe Austen’s golf portraits are also exhibited in private and public collections throughout the world, including Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hills Golf Club, and The Concession Golf Club in Florida,Golfers Guide - The Concession Golf Club Embrace the Experience
/ref> co-designed by Tony Jacklin CBE and

. Within The Concession Golf Club, Austen's paintings of golfing champions and the spirit of the Ryder Cup, are displayed within the main hallways and are collectively titled The Concession Collection.

Portraits within the Gallery of Champions

The majority of Joe Austen's paintings are on display within the Gallery of Champions, and the collections include the following paintings. *

Allan Robertson Allan Robertson (11 September 1815 – 1 September 1859) was considered to be one of the first professional golfers. Early years In the mid-19th century golf was played mainly by well-off gentlemen, as hand-crafted clubs and balls were ex ...

Ben Hogan William Ben Hogan (August 13, 1912 – July 25, 1997) was an American professional golfer who is generally considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He is notable for his profound influence on golf swing theory and ...

* Bobby Jones * Gary Player DMS; OIG *

Gene Sarazen Gene Sarazen (; born Eugenio Saraceni, February 27, 1902 – May 13, 1999) was an American professional golfer, one of the world's top players in the 1920s and 1930s, and the winner of seven major championships. He is one of five players (along ...

Harry Vardon Henry William Vardon (9 May 1870 – 20 March 1937) was a professional golfer from Jersey. He was a member of the Great Triumvirate with John Henry Taylor and James Braid. Vardon won The Open Championship a record six times, and also won the ...

* Sir Henry Cotton MBE *

* James Braid *

Johnny Miller John Laurence Miller (born April 29, 1947) is an American former professional golfer. He was one of the top players in the world during the mid-1970s. He was the first to shoot 63 in a major championship to win the 1973 U.S. Open, and he ra ...

John Henry Taylor John Henry "J.H." Taylor (19 March 1871 – 10 February 1963) was an English professional golfer and one of the pioneers of the modern game of golf. Taylor is considered to be one of the best golfers of all time. He was a significant golf ...

Lee Trevino Lee Buck Trevino (born December 1, 1939) is an American retired professional golfer who is regarded as one of the greatest players in golf history. He was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1981. Trevino won six major championships and ...

Old Tom Morris Thomas Mitchell Morris (16 June 1821 – 24 May 1908), otherwise known as Old Tom Morris, and The Grand Old Man of Golf, was a Scottish golfer. He was born in St Andrews, Fife, the "home of golf" and location of the St Andrews Links, and died t ...

* Peter Thomson AO CBE *

Sam Snead Samuel Jackson Snead (pronounced English_phonology">sni:d.html" ;"title="English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d">English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d May 27, 1912 – May 23, 2002) was an ...

* Sandy Lyle MBE *

Seve Ballesteros Severiano Ballesteros Sota (; 9 April 1957 – 7 May 2011) was a Spanish professional golfer, a World No. 1 who was one of the sport's leading figures from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. A member of a gifted golfing family, he won 90 inte ...

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

* Tom Watson *

Tom Weiskopf Thomas Daniel Weiskopf (November 9, 1942 – August 20, 2022) was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. His most successful decade was the 1970s. He won 16 PGA Tour titles between 1968 and 1982, inclu ...

* Tony Jacklin CBE *

Walter Hagen Walter Charles Hagen (December 21, 1892 – October 6, 1969) was an American professional golfer and a major figure in golf in the first half of the 20th century. His tally of 11 professional majors is third behind Jack Nicklaus (18) and Tiger ...

Willie Auchterlonie William "Willie" Auchterlonie (7 August 1872 – 27 February 1963) was a Scotland, Scottish professional golfer. He was a native of St Andrews. He won the 1893 Open Championship at the age of and he remains the second youngest Open Champion afte ...

Young Tom Morris Thomas Morris (20 April 1851 – 25 December 1875), known as Tom Morris Junior, Young Tom Morris and also Tommy Morris, was a Scottish professional golfer. He is considered one of the pioneers of professional golf, and was the first young prodig ...

Children's Television & Book Creations

The Magic House (TV series)

Joe Austen created, wrote and illustrated 24 books in the bestselling Magic House series, which were published in 1985 by Richard Drew Publishing.Joe Austen Creative Portfolio
/ref> He then went on to create and develop The Magic House television series for

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is the ...

. It ran for three seasons from 1994 - 1996, and Joe Austen was involved in every aspect of its creation, acting as writer, illustrator, designer, and on-screen storyteller and presenter. Subsequently, The Magic House was developed into a puppet Television Series for the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

Network. As writer, designer and associate producer of The Magic House television series, Joe Austen wrote 55 scripts for three network series, and designed the puppets, sets, and cell-animated title sequences. Austen then created The Magic Bank Club for TSB, based on The Magic House and aimed at promoting bank accounts for children. Austen went on to create, write, illustrate and present Joe and Co, a Magic House spin-off, as a BBC television series. Following this, Joe Austen was a writer, illustrator and co-presenter on the BBC Untied Shoelaces television series. After The Magic House book series had been out of print for a number of years, a Facebook group was created by fans of The Magic House in June 2010, calle
Bring back the Magic House books (Joe Austen)
in an effort to get them reprinted, highlighting the dedication of his readers. In July 2014, the Facebook page had gathered 261 fans.

Story Store

The Story Store
/ref> is a concept for television and publishing developed by Joe Austen.Joe Austen Creative Portfolio - Story Store
/ref> He went on to establish a new stop-frame model animation studio in central London in order to produce The Story Store television series for Carlton Television for the

ITV Network ITV is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passin ...

in 1995. Austen developed the show and designed the puppets. He also directed the voice recordings of

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and tw ...

Rory Bremner Roderick Keith Ogilvy "Rory" Bremner,"Rory Bremner". '' Who Do You Think You Are?''. Wall to Wall for BBC One. 2 February 2009. No. 1, series 6. (born 6 April 1961) is a Scottish impressionist and comedian, noted for his work in political sati ...

and

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...

. He went on to write and design four Story Store illustrated books.

Storyland Ltd.

Joe Austen established Storyland Ltd in May 2001,C21 Media - Storyland wraps ITV Christmas Toon
/ref> a family entertainment company based in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, with Lord Richard Attenborough as Company President. In 2001,Herald Scotland - Storyland Buys Back Ownership
/ref> the company bought back ownership of more than 60 programmes and two dozen books created by Joe Austen for various broadcasters and publishers. These properties include 13 episodes of The Story Store, previously owned and aired by Carlton, and 55 episodes of The Magic House, which was developed for Scottish Television. Joe Austen said at the time that Storyland had paid a six-figure sum to bring these and other properties back into its ownership. They formed the core of a wide range of family entertainment that Storyland intended to market through television, satellite, cable, publishing and new media of the time, such as broadband. During his time with Storyland, Austen produced a new Story Store Christmas Special for the ITV network in 2001, entitled Music & Moonlight, which aired on New Year's Day and featured impressionist

as the voice behind more than half-a-dozen characters. Storyland was subsequently publicly listed and became Storyland PLC, before being dissolved in March 2014.Open Corporates
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Austen, Joe British artists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people