Sarah Raphael
Encyclopedia
Sarah Natasha Raphael was an English artist best known for her portraits and draughtsmanship.
, Suffolk
– in the same birthplace village as John Constable
, the renowned landscape painter, who was born in 1776. Her father is Frederic Raphael
— screenwriter, novelist and journalist.
Sarah was educated at Bedales School
(Steep, Hampshire), and subsequently studied art at Camberwell School of Art, London, 1978 – 81, graduating with a First Class Honours Degree.
She was an accomplished, assured draftsman. A survey of her work is provided by the book, Sarah Raphael Drawings, published by Carcanet Press Ltd, October 2004. As William Boyd has written of her figurative works, "You can tell how good they are, yourself: you don't need the imprimatur of a gallery or a dealer or a patron."
Initially notable for her portraits, Raphel's painting became progressively more abstract, especially evident through the series: Desert Paintings (mid-90s), STRIP! (1997) and Time Travel for Beginners (2000).
Of particular note of her prints (etchings and monotypes) are the Small Objects works, which relate to the STRIP! paintings. She illustrated books written by her father, Frederic were The Hidden I: A Myth Revisited in 1990 and Of Gods and Men in 1992.
She has works hanging in the Metropolitan Museum in New York and in several large corporate collections as well as London't National Portrait Gallery. By 1995, she was so much in demand that her paintings were fetching £50,000
She died from septicaemia following pneumonia
, aged 41, on 10 January 2001.
Early life
Raphael was born on 10 August 1960 in East BergholtEast Bergholt
East Bergholt is a village in the south of Suffolk, England, just north of the Essex border. It is "twinned" with the village of Barbizon, France....
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
– in the same birthplace village as John Constable
John Constable
John Constable was an English Romantic painter. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape paintings of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home—now known as "Constable Country"—which he invested with an intensity of affection...
, the renowned landscape painter, who was born in 1776. Her father is Frederic Raphael
Frederic Raphael
Frederic Michael Raphael is an American-born, British-educated screenwriter, and also a prolific novelist and journalist.-Life and career:...
— screenwriter, novelist and journalist.
Sarah was educated at Bedales School
Bedales School
Bedales School is a co-educational independent school situated in Hampshire, in the south east of England. Founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley in reaction to the limitations of conventional Victorian schools, today the school is one of the most expensive in the UK, charging £9,985 per term for a...
(Steep, Hampshire), and subsequently studied art at Camberwell School of Art, London, 1978 – 81, graduating with a First Class Honours Degree.
Career
Raphel worked in several media and in both figurative and abstract syles. As a portrait painter she gained recognition at the highest level and is featured on the The National Portrait Gallery's website. Charles Saumarez Smith, director of the National Portrait Gallery, called her "one of the finest figurative artists of the generation".She was an accomplished, assured draftsman. A survey of her work is provided by the book, Sarah Raphael Drawings, published by Carcanet Press Ltd, October 2004. As William Boyd has written of her figurative works, "You can tell how good they are, yourself: you don't need the imprimatur of a gallery or a dealer or a patron."
Initially notable for her portraits, Raphel's painting became progressively more abstract, especially evident through the series: Desert Paintings (mid-90s), STRIP! (1997) and Time Travel for Beginners (2000).
Of particular note of her prints (etchings and monotypes) are the Small Objects works, which relate to the STRIP! paintings. She illustrated books written by her father, Frederic were The Hidden I: A Myth Revisited in 1990 and Of Gods and Men in 1992.
She has works hanging in the Metropolitan Museum in New York and in several large corporate collections as well as London't National Portrait Gallery. By 1995, she was so much in demand that her paintings were fetching £50,000
Later life
Her experience of migraines and their influence on her work were the subject of journalism and medical research, the latter in a paper, "Sarah Raphael's Migraine with Aura as Inspiration for the Foray of her Work into Abstraction", by Klaus Podoll and Debbie Ayles - Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany.Personal life and death
Sarah married Nick McDowell in 1985 and they had three daughters.She died from septicaemia following pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
, aged 41, on 10 January 2001.
Exhibitions and career milestones
- 1978 – Work included in exhibition, Mixed Drawings, Whitechapel GalleryWhitechapel GalleryThe Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, it was founded in 1901 as one of the first publicly-funded galleries for temporary exhibitions in London, and it has a long...
, London - 1985 – Solo exhibition, Christopher Hull Gallery, London
- 1989 and 1992 – Solo exhibitions, Agnew's Gallery, London*
- 1993 – Winner of the Villiers David Prize 1995 – Solo exhibition, Desert Paintings and other Recent Work, Agnew's Gallery, London and Fitzwilliam MuseumFitzwilliam MuseumThe Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge, located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge, England. It receives around 300,000 visitors annually. Admission is free....
, Cambridge - 1996 – Winner of the Nat West Painting Prize, Royal AcademyRoyal AcademyThe Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
, London - 1997 – Solo exhibition, STRIP!, Marlborough Fine Art Gallery, London
- 2000 – Childhood Cube (sculpture) for the Millennium DomeMillennium DomeThe Millennium Dome, colloquially referred to simply as The Dome or even The O2 Arena, is the original name of a large dome-shaped building, originally used to house the Millennium Experience, a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millennium...
exhibition - 2000 – Solo exhibition, Small Objects in Transit (etchings and monotypes), Marlborough Graphics, London
- 2003 – (Posthumous) solo exhibition, A Survey of Work from 1994–2001, Marlborough Fine Art Gallery, London