Valerie Wiffen ARCA (born 1943) is a London-based British artist who is best known for her portraiture.

Biography

Wiffen was born in Danbury, Essex in 1943 and received her art education and training at South West Essex Technical College and School of Art, and then the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

Painting School, London, where she studied under Sandra Blow, Jean Bratby, Mary Fedden,

Ruskin Spear Ruskin Spear, CBE, RA (30 June 1911 – 17 January 1990) was an English painter and teacher of art, regarded as one of the foremost British portrait painters of his day. Born in Hammersmith, Spear attended the local art school before going on ...

, Carel Weight, Peter Blake and Ken Howard. Wiffen won the Royal College of Art Drawing Prize in 1966 on her graduation. She is an ARCA (an associate of the

). Wiffen's notable portrait commissions include The Duke of Edinburgh which is in the collection of the

Board of Deputies The Board of Deputies of British Jews, commonly referred to as the Board of Deputies, is the largest and second oldest Jewish communal organisation in the United Kingdom, after only the Initiation Society which was founded in 1745. Established ...

and Dr Carey, when he was

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

, with Mrs Carey. She has work in various public collections such as her portraits of Sir Sigmund Sternberg (1998) which is in the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...

; Sir Gavyn Arthur as

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

which is in the Guildhall Art Gallery; Margaret Beckett MP, a presentation from the

Jain community The Jains in India are the last direct representatives of the ancient Shramana tradition. People who practice Jainism, an ancient religion of the Indian subcontinent, are collectively referred to as Jains. Sangha Jainism has a fourfold orde ...

; the High Commissioner for India Dr LM Singhvi, in the collection of the Bhavan Centre for Indian Music; and her portrait of Rabbi Dr Louis Jacobs is in the Jewish Museum, London.

Solo exhibitions

* 1992 ''Animal, Vegetable and Mineral''
West Dean College
Gallery, Sussex, UK * 2013 ''Treasures From The Museums & Collections of London''
The Broadway Bookshop
London * 2015 ''Open Spaces & Public Places: An Exhibition of Drawings & Paintings'' by Valerie Wiffen ARCA, The Broadway Bookshop, London * 2017 ''The Shock of the New Build and Other Contrast Old and New: Paintings by Valerie Wiffen ARCA'', a show of paintings and drawings
The Broadway Bookshop
London * 2018 – 2019, ''New Paintings and Drawings''
The Broadway Bookshop
London. This show was on from 4 December 2018 – 31 January 2019 * 2021 – 2022, ''New Paintings and Drawings''
The Broadway Bookshop
London. This show was on from 15 December 2021 – 30 January 2022

Selected work in group shows and national collections

1972 - Liverpool Bluecoat Gallery
1963 - 1966 inclusions in the annual exhibition of the New English Art Club
1996 - Inclusion in the annual exhibition of the New English Art Club
1963 - 1997 numerous inclusions in the summer exhibition of

Royal Academy of Arts 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 purpo ...

, London
1994 - 2000 present, annual inclusions in the tutor's show at

West Dean West Dean may refer to several places in England: *West Dean, Gloucestershire *West Dean, West Sussex *West Dean, Wiltshire *Westdean Cuckmere Valley is a civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. As its name suggests, the p ...

Summer School
1998 - London School of Economics
2000 -

(permanent collection)
2017
HUMAN
group show, The German Embassy, London

Publications

Wiffen has written various books on drawing including ''Collins Learn to Draw – Still Life'' and ''Figure Sketching School: The Essential Step-by-step Guide to Sketching Accurate Life-like Figures'' (Reader's Digest).

References

External links

Valerie Wiffen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiffen, Valerie 1943 births Living people 20th-century English painters 21st-century English painters 20th-century English women artists 21st-century English women artists Alumni of the Royal College of Art British contemporary artists English women painters People from Essex