Peter Matthews

Peter Jeffrey Matthews (born 29 July 1942) is a British printmaker, former teacher at Royal College of Art (RCA) and senior lecturer at Wimbledon School of Art. Educated at Ealing School of Art, Matthews went on to assist at Editions Alecto and editioned most of David Hockney's early etchings. Matthews has also exhibited his own work extensively including at the Royal Academy of Arts (RA), Royal Watercolour Society (RWS) Gallery, and with the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, being elected a Fellow and later Council Member 1984–98. His work is held in a number of public collections in the UK and overseas, including the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A); British Council; the Ashmolean Museum; Albertina Museum, Vienna; Royal Library of Belgium and the Free Library, Philadelphia.

Artistic career Employment

After graduating from Ealing School of Art, Matthews was appointed craftsman/demonstrator in the Printmaking Department at the RCA in London. He worked with many artists of that time and assisted David Hockney in editioning his early etchings 1962-1964. This included: Myself and My Heroes, Gretchen and the Snurl My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean and Kaisarion and all his Beauty. Matthews reflects on printing Hockney's Kaisarion (while he was still at Ealing) in an interview in 2011. His name is often incorrectly spelled as Peter Mathews when being credited as the printer of Hockney's etchings. In 1966, he became a Senior Lecturer in the Printmaking Department of the Wimbledon School of Art where he taught BA and MA courses in Printmaking until 1998.

Body of work

Landscape has always dominated his work. Early inspiration came from the quarries of Wales and the idea of figures in an empty pared-down landscape. In 1971, he established a studio on the north coast of Scotland. There were no more figures, only the rocks, heather, rivers, cliffs and sea of Caithness and Sutherland. He used several plates for each etching and a wide colour palette a

In 1991, he moved his studio to South-West France, where the landscape is in direct contrast to Scotland. The French etchings are mainly in black and white and demonstrate his fascination with time of day and shadows. Matthews ceased etching in 1998 and has returned to painting in oils informed by the landscape of the Charente.

During his 37-year career Matthews has had his work exhibited extensively in the UK and overseas both in solo and group exhibitions and his work is held in many public collections around the world. His biography has been listed in Debrett's People of Today 1994–1998 and Who's Who of Art.

Personal life Matthews now, after living in the Charente region of France for 11 years, resides in Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Exhibitions Solo exhibitions 1977 Amalgam Gallery, London 1978 Galleri Unicorn, Copenhagen 1996 Foreign Press Association, London

Group exhibitions 1961 RWS Gallery, London 1964 Tib Lane Gallery 1966 “British Printmakers in the 60s”, travelling through USA with London Arts gallery 1970 AIA Gallery/Royal Institute, Glasgow 1972-7 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 1975 Galerie Arnaud, Paris 1978 “British Contemporary Etchers”, Associated American Arts Gallery, New York 1979 “50 Years of Printmaking at the Royal College of Art” 1980-2 Scottish Print Open, Edinburgh, Dundee, Glasgow 1983 Scottish Print Open, Sweden. Norway, Finland 1983 Exhibition with La Jeune Gravure Contemporaine, Bankside Gallery, London 1985 16th Ljubljana Print Biennale, Yugoslavia (British Council invited artist) 1985 Contemporary Prints, Barbican Centre, London 1986 Grafiska Sallskapets Galleri, Stockholm, Sweden 1988 British Contemporary Art Fair 1989 Exhibition of British Prints, State Publishing Organisation, Moscow, Russia 1989 5th International Print Biennale, Bulgaria (by invitation) 1990 AD Fine Art, Barbican Centre, London 1994/5 National Print Exhibition, The Mall Galleries, London 1994 Grafica Pryzmat, Kraków, Poland 1994 Maastricht International Print Biennale, Holland 1995 Hochschule Fur Kunste, Bremen, Germany 1996 National College of Art and Design, Oslo, Norway 1996 Boxed Prints, Hardware Gallery, London 1996 New Academy Gallery, London 1996 National Gallery, Ulan Bator, Outer Mongolia 1997 Morandi Gallery, Bologna, Italy 1997 National Print Exhibition, The Mall Galleries

Public collections Victoria and Albert Museum Ashmolean Museum Bibliothèque Royale, Brussels, Belgium South London Art Gallery Greenwich Library, London Cheltenham Art Gallery, England Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, England Northampton Art Gallery, England Southampton Art Gallery, England Arts Council, Northern Ireland King's College, London Free Library, Philadelphia, USA Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria British Council Morandi Galleria, Bologna, Italy

Education 1957–1962 Ealing School of Art, London National Diploma in Art and Design (Painting and Printmaking)

Employment 1961 Editioning, St George’s Gallery, London 1962-4 Assisting David Hockney, Editions Alecto, London 1962-6 Royal College of Art, Craftsman- Demonstrator in Etching 1966–98 Senior Lecturer in Printmaking, Wimbledon School of Art, London 2007 Visiting Lecturer, Faculty of Fine Art, University of Yaoundé, Cameroon

Prizes 1997 Gavin Graham Award, National Print Exhibition Committees and Public Art Activities: 1974–98 Member, Edinburgh Printmakers Workshop 1984–98 Fellow and later Council Member, Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. Now Honorary Fellow.