Bryan Kneale RA

Born: 19 June 1930, Douglas, Isle of Man, UK
Elected ARA: 23 April 1970
Elected RA: 12 February 1974
Category of Membership: Sculptor

I think all my work is about the problem of what one sees and what one knows and the attempt to fuse the two and in a special sense disrupt them.
Bryan Kneale RA

Prof Bryan Kneale RA, Crucible

Bryan Kneale originally studied painting at Douglas School of Art in 1947 and then at the Royal Academy Schools, London from 1948 to 1952 where he received a Rome Scholarship in painting (1949-51). In 1960 he moved from painting to sculpting and in 1968 was Head of Sculpture at Hornsey College of Art and Design. Most of his subsequent teaching career was spent at the Royal College of Art, London, where he was Tutor (1963-1980) and Senior Tutor (1980-85), Head of Sculpture (1985-90) and Professor of Drawing (1990-95). He was also Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools from 1980 to 1987.

Kneale’s first solo show with paintings was in 1954 with the Redfern Gallery, London. He continued to exhibit there regularly until 1986. Other solo shows include a retrospective of his work at the Whitechapel Art Gallery (1966), the Serpentine Gallery, London (1978), and further retrospectives at the Henry Moore Gallery, Royal College of Art, London (1986), Royal West of England Academy (1995), and a drawing retrospective at the Natural History Museum (1991). Kneale has participated in many group shows, both in the UK and Europe. These include 'Sculpture International', Battersea Park, London (1963-1966), 'British Sculpture in the 60s', Tate Gallery, London (1966), 'New Art', Hayward Gallery 1975 and 'Chelsea Harbour Sculpture Show' (1993). Kneale also curated and exhibited in British Sculptors, Royal Academy of Arts (1972) and Jubilee Exhibition of British Sculpture, Battersea Park (1977).

Bryan Kneale RA, Fallen Tree Kneale won the Leverhulme Prize in 1952, the Daily Express Young Painters’ Prize in 1955 and received an Arts Council Purchase Award in 1969. He was elected Royal Academician in 1974 (ARA 1970) and is a Trustee of the Royal Academy of Arts and a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art. Kneale lives and works in London.

Read an interview with Bryan Kneale in RA Magazine Spring 2011

Recent solo exhibitions
2012 Hart Gallery, London
2011 Royal Academy of Arts, London
2009 Royal British Society of Sculptors, London
Hart Gallery, London
2007 Hart Gallery, London
2005 Cass Sculpture Foundation, London
2004 Hart Gallery, London
2000 70th Birthday Exhibition, Roche Court, Salisbury
The Eye of the Storm, Mandria Park, Turin
Bronze, British Contemporary Sculpture, Holland Park
1999 Bryan Robertson Exhibition, Kettles Yard, Oxford
Exhibition Animaux, Paris
1998 Drawings for Goodwood, Pallant House, Chichester
Figurative Art, Flowers East
1997 Lewes Festival
1996 Goodwood Sculpture Park
1995 Retrospective, Royal West of England Academy
1993 Chelsea Harbour Sculpture Show
1991 Drawing Retrospective, Natural History Museum

Public collections
Arts Council of Great Britain
Beaverbrook Foundation, Frederickton
Bradford City Art Gallery
British Museum
Contemporary Arts Society
Fitzwilliam Museum
Glasgow City Gallery
Leicester City Art Gallery
Manchester City Art Gallery
Manx Museum
Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Galleries of Victoria, Southern Australia
National Gallery of New Zealand
Natural History Museum
Nottingham City Art Gallery
Oriel College, Oxford
Sheffield City Art Gallery
Tate Britain
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Yale Museum
York City Art Gallery

Public commissions
1999 Sculpture for Westminster Cathedral
1998 Sculpture for Westminster Cathedral
1997 Bronze Doors for Portsmouth Cathedral
1996 Sculpture for Manx Government Building
1994 Sculpture for Perse School, Cambridge
1979 Monumental Sculpture, Manx Millennium
1972 Sculpture for King Edwards School, Totnes
1965 Sculpture for Camberwell Library
1962 Sculpture for LCC, Fenwick Place, Lambeth

Contact details for further information
Email membershipoffice@royalacademy.org.uk

• Royal Academy of Arts