Philip Sutton

Philip Sutton (born 20 October 1928) is a British artist active since the 1950s, best known for his large and highly coloured paintings of landscape, flowers and people.

Early life Philip Sutton was born in Poole, Dorset, in 1928 but grew up in Leyton, Essex (now East London). After leaving school at the age of 14, he worked in a drawing office before carrying out three years' National Service in the Royal Air Force (RAF), during which he was involved in the Berlin Airlift.

Life and career After leaving the RAF, Sutton used the ex-serviceman's grant scheme to gain a place at the Slade School of Fine Art At the school's degree show in 1953, Slade professor William Coldstream introduced Sutton's work to art dealers Henry Roland and Gustave Delbanco. Around this time he made his first sale via a commercial gallery to tenor Peter Pears. Two more children were born during the family's time in Suffolk—a period during which Sutton's style as a painter matured as he abandoned abstractism and adopted more subtle colours. and postage stamps for Royal Mail. On 8 December 1988 he was elected as a Royal Academician. and a biography and collection of his work followed ten years later. He has continued to paint into his nineties despite having lost sight in one eye, and lives and works in West Bay, Dorset. Sutton spoke to The Guardian about his experiences of lockdown in his care home and being able to draw again outside, his gallery reopened after lockdown and was one of the venues for Dorset Art Weeks.