John Berry
John Berry can be regarded as the logical temporary extension
of the 19th Century Painters.
His importance as a great realist painter is instantly
recognisable by the knowledgeable viewer, who enters with him a world
they both know and revere.
Born in London in 1920, John Berry, having displayed
an early artistic talent, entered the Hammersmith School of Art in
1934, where he studied under Alfred Egerton Cooper and William Dring.
His main interests at that time were figure paintings and etchings.
At 19 John won a scholarship to the Royal Academy Schools.
In 1939 at the outbreak of the war, John cut short his
art studies and joined the RAF. It was soon noted that his talents
as an artist should not go unheeded and Air Marshall Tedder, AOC,
put him forward as a war artist.
From 1941-1944, John worked with the 8th Army in North
Africa and Egypt painting battle scenes. Some of these wartime paintings
including ’25 Pounder in action at Alamein’ were exhibited at the
National Gallery during the war before being moved to the Imperial
War Museum where they now hang. During this period he spent a lot
of time in Cairo from where he was able to gather material for some
of his other paintings. John began to paint scenes of the past which
were witty and frivolous, genre paintings set in the 17th century
or in his own period, and pictures of the Moslem world. With the
aid of sketches, photographs and studio accessories he reconstructed,
with a remarkable sense of monumental composition and fine colouring,
scenes of oriental smokers, chess players, Moslems at prayer, cafes,
dancers, interiors and palaces.
After the war he moved to the joint services staff college
(Amersham, Bucks) and during his time there painted the portraits
of many high ranking staff who passed through. After completing his
military service, John travelled, painting portraits, including a
commissioned portrait of His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al
Nahayan, Ruler of Abu Dhabi and the President of the United Arab
Emirates while under the auspices of Harrods as their main portrait
painter. He worked successfully as a commercial artist during the
1950’s and in fact created the now famous design of the Esso Petroleum
“Tiger”. Since then he has worked for many big publishing companies
including Ladybird books, Panther, Pan Fortina and Readers Digest.
Since the mid 90’s John has worked with galleries in
the United States, producing portraits of Native American Indians.
Through these contacts he was given the commission to paint George
Bush Snr as a young naval aviator. This portrait stands in a central
position in the foyer of the George Bush Gallery of the Pacific War.
All images protected by copyright © Mitchell Studio
Gallery 2010 |
