John Virtue (born 1947), is an English artist who specialises in monochrome

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of Terrestrial ecoregion, land, its landforms, and how they integrate with Nature, natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionar ...

. He is honorary Professor of Fine Art at the

University of Plymouth The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...

, and from 2003 to 2005 was the sixth Associate Artist at London's

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

.Associate Artist Scheme
, National Gallery

Biography

Virtue was born in

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

, Lancashire in 1947. He trained at the Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1965 to 1969. In 1971 he moved to Green Haworth, near

Oswaldtwistle Oswaldtwistle ( "ozzel twizzel") is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England, southeast of Blackburn, contiguous with Accrington and Church. The town has a rich industrial heritage, being home to James Hargreaves, inventor of the s ...

, painting landscapes for two years before abandoning painting in favour of pen and ink drawings comprising dense networks of lines akin to the work of

Samuel Palmer Samuel Palmer Hon.RE (Hon. Fellow of the Society of Painter-Etchers) (27 January 180524 May 1881) was a British landscape painter, etcher and printmaker. He was also a prolific writer. Palmer was a key figure in Romanticism in Britain and p ...

. From 1978 Virtue worked as a postman, giving this up in 1985 to work as a full-time artist. He lived in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

from 1988 to 2004.Painting is a virtue
Jo Loosemores, BBC Devon Maintaining a studio in

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

, he produced works around the

Exe Exe or EXE may refer to: * .exe, a file extension * exe., abbreviation for executive Places * River Exe, in England * Exe Estuary, in England * Exe Island, in Exeter, England Transportation and vehicles * Exe (locomotive), a British locomotive ...

estuary, before being offered the post of Associate Artist at the National Gallery. This scheme engages contemporary artists to produce work that "connects to the National Gallery Collection" and demonstrates "the continuing inspiration of the Old Master tradition".

Work

Virtue uses only black and white on his work as he sees colour as "unnecessary distraction". He uses

shellac Shellac () is a resin secreted by the female lac bug on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. It is processed and sold as dry flakes and dissolved in alcohol to make liquid shellac, which is used as a brush-on colorant, food glaze and ...

black ink and white paint. He is well known for his "London Paintings" which were displayed in The National Gallery and focused on the London skyline, using easily distinguishable landmarks from the capital such as the Gherkin, the NatWest Tower and St. Paul's Cathedral, to familiarise his audience with the otherwise hazy, smoggy and ambiguous drawings. Virtue's awards include: first prize in the Sunday Mirror painting competition (1964), Walter Neurath prize for painting awarded by Thames & Hudson Publishers (1966), Arts Council Major Award (1981), Joint First prize-winner in the 4th Tolly Cobbold Exhibition (1983), and Best Visual Artist in the South Bank Awards (2006). His work during his National Gallery tenure was exhibited in 2005 at the National Gallery and at

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

, and his final, large-scale, London works were exhibited at the University of Plymouth in 2007. He moved to Italy to work and returned in 2009 to live in North Norfolk. where he has continued to produce work, for example, 'The Sea' exhibitions The

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 ...

in London holds examples of his work.

References

Biography
National Gallery *

Richard Cork Richard Cork (born 25 March 1947) is a British art historian, editor, critic, broadcaster and exhibition curator. He has been an art critic for the ''Evening Standard'', '' The Listener'', ''The Times'' and the ''New Statesman''. Cork was also ed ...

atalogue essay ''John Virtue: Ten New Works'' London and New York: Lisson Gallery and Louver Gallery, 1990.

External links

*
National Portrait Gallery image of Virtue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Virtue, John 1947 births Living people 20th-century English male artists 21st-century English male artists Academics of the University of Plymouth Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Artists from Lancashire English landscape artists People from Accrington