Patrick Caulfield (British, born January 29, 1936–died September 29, 2005) was a renowned painter and printmaker. Born in London, he began his studies at the Chelsea School of Art, London, before continuing at the Royal College of Art from 1960 to 1963. Although Caulfield counted
David Hockney and
Allen Jones among his peers as a student, the subject matter of his work draws more from Modern masters, such as
Juan Gris and
Georges Braque, than from the consumer culture of Pop Art. Caulfield was included in the
New Generation show at London’s Whitechapel Gallery in 1964, and was introduced to screenprinting techniques.
Typified by flat, color-blocked images of everyday objects, his early paintings were highly influenced by the silkscreen process. This formalistic simplicity was deceptive, however, and Caulfield’s focus gradually shifted to the sculptural and architectural elements of his subjects. His mature work displayed a variety of artistic styles, where Photo Realism, saturated color planes, and perspectival complexity were merged onto a single canvas. Although his work indicated various 19th- and 20th-century influences, such as
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Cubism, and
Henri Matisse, Caulfield upheld an individualistic, unique painting style throughout his career. Major retrospectives of his work were held at the Serpentine Gallery, the Hayward Gallery, and the Tate Gallery in London over the course of his life. Caulfield was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1987, for his show
The Artist’s Eye at the National Gallery, in which he curated an exhibition of his favorite paintings. His estate is represented by Alan Cristea Gallery in London.