Norman Neasom RWS,

RBSA The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists or RBSA is an art society, based in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, England, where it owns and operates an art gallery, the RBSA Gallery, on Brook Street, just off St Paul's Square. It is both a re ...

(7 November 1915 – 22 February 2010) was an English painter and art teacher. He grew up on Birchensale Farm in Brockhill Lane on the outskirts of

Redditch Redditch is a town, and local government district, in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district has a population of 85,000 as of 2019. In the 19th century, it became the international centre for the ...

, Worcestershire. On finishing his schooling at Redditch County High School, aged 16, he was given a scholarship at the

Birmingham College of Art The Birmingham School of Art was a municipal art school based in the centre of Birmingham, England. Although the organisation was absorbed by Birmingham Polytechnic in 1971 and is now part of Birmingham City University's Faculty of Arts, Design a ...

where, from 1931, he worked under Bernard Fleetwood-Walker, Harold Holden, Henry Sands,

Michael Fletcher Michael Edward Fletcher (born February 17, 1977) is a former professional Canadian football linebacker. On February 16, 2009, he became a free agent. As of May 9, 2011, Fletcher is a defensive co-ordinator for Paramount High School's football t ...

and William Colley. During

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, his work on the family farm was a

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, though he did undertake

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and

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duties. He also briefly worked in London, for journals such as

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pu ...

. After

he took up lecturing at the

. He also taught at the Bournville Art College and at

Aston Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, England. Located immediately to the north-east of Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a ward within the metropolitan authority. It is approximately 1.5 miles from Birmingham City Centre. History Aston w ...

, and later in 1953 moved to Redditch School of Art. On the death of the then principal the School became part of Redditch College with Neasom becoming Head of Department. In 1979 he retired in order to devote all his time to painting, and became a member of the

Royal Watercolour Society The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wa ...

. Neasom 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 ...

, The Royal Watercolour Society,

Royal Birmingham Society of Artists The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists or RBSA is an art society, based in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, England, where it owns and operates an art gallery, the RBSA Gallery, on Brook Street, just off St Paul's Square. It is both a r ...

(RBSA),

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, local ...

, The Mall Gallery, Chris Beetles Gallery and the Stratford Art Society. His work is to be found in the permanent collections of

the Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

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and the West Midlands Arts Council. He produced the illustrations for more than 40 books. His work has been used on the cover of ''

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''. After retirement, he drew and published historical maps. He was commissioned by the Royal Watercolour Society to paint pictures as a 70th birthday gift for

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

and a 100th birthday gift for

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was th ...

. An avid sailor, he designed his own

sailing dinghy Dinghy sailing is the activity of sailing small boats by using five essential controls: * the sails * the foils (i.e. the daggerboard or centreboard and rudder and sometimes lifting foils as found on the Moth) * the trim (forward/rear angle o ...

and built nearly 200 boats. A number of his letters, including a hand-written autobiography, are in the archives of the RBSA.RBSA archives, Norman Neasom file

References

External links

Official websiteNorman Neasom
at messums.com
Chris Beetles Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neasom, Norman 20th-century English painters English male painters 21st-century English painters Naïve painters Primitive painters People from Redditch 1915 births 2010 deaths Members and Associates of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists 20th-century English male artists 21st-century English male artists