Brian Bennett is a past President of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, somewhat anomalously known as the ROI. He has exhibited widely, notably at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists, the Royal Society of Marine Artists, the New English Art Club and, of course, at the ROI, of which in 1996 he was elected Fellow in recognition of his work for the institute. His paintings are in many collections in the USA, Japan, Europe and the UK. This includes HRH The Prince Edward, HRH The Duchess of Gloucester and the Duchess of York. He has been three times winner, at the ROI Annual Exhibition, of the Stanley Grimm prize, which is awarded to the painter whose work in the exhibition receives most votes from the visiters.
He has had no formal art training, but at Magdalen College School in Oxford he was taught English by Peter Greenham, already then a noted painted, and subsequently an eminent Royal Academician and Keeper of the RA Schools. They would often go out painting together, and the influence of the older man both then and when Brian went up to Magdalen College to read History, has been an enormously important factor in his career. At the University, when he was not otherwise engaged on the rugger or hockey field, he attended afternoon classes in the Ruskin School, then housed in a wing of the Ashmolean, where his teachers included Percy Horton and Albert Rutherston.
Essentially a landscape painter in the English tradition, he works almost exclusively with a painting knife. He has written and published a book “A Painters’ Year – Twelve Months in the Chilterns” containing over 80 reproductions of his paintings of the Chilterns. He is also author of “Oil Painting with a Knife” published by Search Press and is featured with several others. The woods. downs and streams of the Chiltern Hills where he lives, and the panoramic views over the Vale of Aylesbury form the favourite subjects of a great deal of his work with particular emphasis on the wold flowers that grow in the area throughout the seasons.
His work may frequently be seen at exhibitions throughout the year locally at The Hawker Gallery amongst other and in London. He can be contacted on 01442 863 643 and also through our Bespoke Framing on info@bespokeframing.com.
