Explore: Basil Beattie

(1935 - )

Born in West Hartlepool, Basil Beattie graduated from the Royal Academy schools in 1961, and was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Arts in 2006. Beattie was a pioneer of a new approach to painting in post-war Britain, having been significantly influenced by ‘The New American Painting’ show at the Tate in 1959, in particular the works of Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman. Over a sixty-year career, Beattie has remained part of a set of British artists whose works continue the legacy of Abstract Expressionism. He has exhibited widely in the UK since the 1960s and taught at Goldsmiths College in London in the 1980s and ‘90s. Beattie lives and works in Mitcham, Surrey.