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Born: 12 March 1929, London, UK
Elected RA: 29 June 1992
Category of Membership: Painter
Adrian Berg RA died on 22 October 2011.
He first studied medicine, then English at Cambridge University (1949 to 1952) and subsequently went on to do a higher diploma in Education at Trinity College, Dublin. After a short spell of teaching, he studied from 1955 – 1961 at St Martin’s, Chelsea School of Art and finally the Royal College of Art, where he later worked as senior tutor (1987 to 1988).
Before moving to the Sussex coast in the late eighties, Berg lived and worked for many years next to Regent’s Park, which was often the subject matter of his paintings. Primarily a landscape painter, his work ranged from small scale sketches to large scale panoramas. Working in oil and watercolour, he used colour and pattern in inventive ways to investigate man’s interventions in the natural environment.
Adrian Berg RA, The Alhambra, Granada, 19 March + 3 April
A retrospective of his work (1955 to 1980) was shown in Rochdale Art Gallery in 1980, followed by an exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery in 1986 which subsequently travelled to The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool and to the Polytechnic Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. His 70th and 80th birthdays were marked by solo exhibitions in the Friends’ Room at the Royal Academy of Arts.
He was a Gold Medal winner in 1973 at the Florence Biennale, and a prize winner at the John Moores Liverpool Exhibitions in 1980 and 1982. He was elected a Royal Academician in 1992 and appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art in 1994. Berg was awarded The National Trust’s Foundation for Art Award in 1987 and was subsequently commissioned to paint watercolours for the National Trust in 1995. His work is held in many collections, both public and corporate.
Recent solo exhibitions
2009 Royal Academy of Arts, London
1985-1999 Piccadilly Gallery, London (6 exhibitions)
1999 Royal Academy of Arts (Friends’ Room)
1994 Rye Art Gallery
1993 Concourse Gallery, Barbican, London (toured to: Victoria Gallery, Bath; City Art Gallery, Plymouth; Newport Museum and Art Gallery; Mappin Gallery, Sheffield; Hatton Gallery, Newcastle; Royal Botanic Gallery, Edinburgh)
1992 Brighton Festival
The Gardner Centre
The University of Sussex
1978-83 Waddington Galleries, London (3 exhibitions)
1964-75 Arthur Tooth & Sons, London (5 exhibitions)
Public collections
Arts Council of Great Britain
Atkinson Art Gallery, Southport
Borough of Camden
Carlisle Museum and Art Gallery
City of Bradford
Contemporary Art Society of Wales
Contemporary Arts Society
Corporation of London
Dartington Hall
East Sussex County Council
Government Art Collection
Guildhall Art Gallery
Hove Museum and Art Gallery
Leeds City Art Gallery
Leeds Education Authority
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Manchester City Art Gallery
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
Northern Arts
Repton School
Richmond College, Surrey
Rochdale Art Gallery
The British Council
The British Museum
The European Parliament
The National Trust
The Royal College of Art
The Tate Gallery
The University of Liverpool Art Gallery
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
Towner Art Gallery
Victoria and Albert Museum
Contact details for further information
Email membershipoffice@royalacademy.org.uk
