Graham Sutherland OM

1903–1980

Graham Sutherland OM, ‘Crucifixion’ 1946
Crucifixion 1946
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Biography

Graham Vivian Sutherland OM (24 August 1903 – 17 February 1980) was an English artist who is notable for his work in glass, fabrics, prints and portraits. His work was much inspired by landscape and religion, and he designed the tapestry for the re-built Coventry Cathedral.

Printmaking, mostly of romantic landscapes, dominated Sutherland's work during the 1920s. He developed his art by working in watercolours before switching to using oil paints in the 1940s. It is these oil paintings, often of surreal, organic landscapes of the Pembrokeshire coast, that secured his reputation as a leading British modern artist. Sutherland taught at a number of art colleges, notably at Chelsea School of Art and at Goldsmiths College, where he had been a student. He served as an official war artist in the Second World War drawing industrial scenes on the British home front.

Such was Sutherland's standing in post-war Britain that he was commissioned to design the massive central tapestry in the new Coventry Cathedral, Christ in Glory in the Tetramorph. A number of portrait commissions in the 1950s proved highly controversial. Winston Churchill hated Sutherland's depiction of him. After initially refusing to be presented with it at all, he accepted it disparagingly as “a remarkable example of modern art".

In 1955, Sutherland and his wife purchased a property near Nice. Living abroad led to something of a decline in his status in Britain. However, a visit to Pembrokeshire in 1967, his first trip there in nearly twenty years, led to a creative renewal that went some way toward restoring his reputation as a leading British artist.

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Ancients Artists’ International Association Baroque 22 more art terms …

Artworks

Left Right
Graham Sutherland OM, ‘Crucifixion’ 1946

Graham Sutherland OM Crucifixion

1946
Graham Sutherland OM, ‘Pastoral’ 1930

Graham Sutherland OM Pastoral

1930
View by appointment
Graham Sutherland OM, ‘Devastation, 1941: An East End Street’ 1941

Graham Sutherland OM Devastation, 1941: An East End Street

1941
Graham Sutherland OM, ‘Somerset Maugham’ 1949

Graham Sutherland OM Somerset Maugham

1949
Graham Sutherland OM, ‘Entrance to a Lane’ 1939

Graham Sutherland OM Entrance to a Lane

1939
Graham Sutherland OM, ‘Green Tree Form: Interior of Woods’ 1940

Graham Sutherland OM Green Tree Form: Interior of Woods

1940
On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art
Graham Sutherland OM, ‘Black Landscape’ 1939–40

Graham Sutherland OM Black Landscape

1939–40
On display at Tate St Ives part of Modern Art and St Ives
Graham Sutherland OM, ‘Welsh Landscape with Roads’ 1936

Graham Sutherland OM Welsh Landscape with Roads

1936
See all 56

Artist as subject

Left Right
Henry Moore OM, CH, recipient: Kenneth Clark, ‘Letter from Henry Moore to Kenneth Clark’ 30 March 1941

Henry Moore OM, CH, recipient: Kenneth Clark Letter from Henry Moore to Kenneth Clark

30 March 1941
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Henry Moore OM, CH, recipient: Kenneth Clark, ‘Letter from Henry Moore to Kenneth Clark’ 22 July 1939

Henry Moore OM, CH, recipient: Kenneth Clark Letter from Henry Moore to Kenneth Clark

22 July 1939
View by appointment

Bernard Meninsky Notebook

date not known
Keith Vaughan, ‘Journal number twenty-one’ 19 May–16 June 1944

Keith Vaughan Journal number twenty-one

19 May–16 June 1944
Sir Jacob Epstein, recipient: Peggy Jean Lewis, ‘Letter from Jacob Epstein to Peggy Jean’ 31 August [1953]

Sir Jacob Epstein, recipient: Peggy Jean Lewis Letter from Jacob Epstein to Peggy Jean

31 August [1953]
Henry Moore OM, CH, recipient: Michael Ernest Sadler, ‘Letter from Henry Moore to Michael Ernest Sadler’ 27 June 1942

Henry Moore OM, CH, recipient: Michael Ernest Sadler Letter from Henry Moore to Michael Ernest Sadler

27 June 1942
View by appointment
Sir Jacob Epstein, recipient: Peggy Jean Lewis, ‘Letter from Jacob Epstein to Peggy Jean’ [20 October 1955]

Sir Jacob Epstein, recipient: Peggy Jean Lewis Letter from Jacob Epstein to Peggy Jean

[20 October 1955]
Vanessa Bell, recipient: Duncan Grant, ‘Letter from Vanessa Bell to Duncan Grant’ [c.May 1940]

Vanessa Bell, recipient: Duncan Grant Letter from Vanessa Bell to Duncan Grant

[c.May 1940]
View by appointment
Vanessa Bell, recipient: Duncan Grant, ‘Letter from Vanessa Bell to Duncan Grant’ [7 May 1954]

Vanessa Bell, recipient: Duncan Grant Letter from Vanessa Bell to Duncan Grant

[7 May 1954]
View by appointment
See all 18

Film and audio

Digitising Sutherland's Sketchbooks

Explore Sutherland's sketchbooks and see how they were digitised for Tate Archive

Features

James Boswell Untitled, six studies of men and boys from a sketchbook covering Boswell's posting to Iraq 1942–3 Ink on paper; sp
Behind The Scenes

Archives & Access project: the information behind the image

John Langdon

Transforming Tate Britain, Archives & Access
Paul Nash, ‘Pillar and Moon’ 1932–42
Art Term

Neo-romanticism

Neo-romanticism is a term applied to the imaginative and often quite abstract landscape based painting of Paul Nash, Graham Sutherland ...

Production shot of Kenneth Clark at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, for Civilisation 8 - The Light of Experience 1969
Tate Etc

To the rescue of civilisation man: Kenneth Clark: Looking for Civilisation

James Hall

In his day Kenneth Clark was an influential patron, art historian, collector, gallery director and broadcaster - and one of the ...

Graham Sutherland Homage to Picasso 1947
Tate Etc

I do not seek Picasso, I find...

Rachel Flynn

Picasso and Modern British Art at Tate Britain II
Paul Neagu, ‘Ceramic Skull’ 1973
Tate Etc

MicroTate 23

Klaus Weber , Ian Collins , Clare Woods and Josephine Meckseper

Reflections on a work in the Tate collection

Sketches, letters, etc.

Graham Sutherland OM, ‘Sketchbook 7’ 1943

Graham Sutherland OM Sketchbook 7

1943
Graham Sutherland OM, ‘Sketchbook 17’ 1947–62

Graham Sutherland OM Sketchbook 17

1947–62
Graham Sutherland OM, ‘Sketchbook 2’ 1936–7

Graham Sutherland OM Sketchbook 2

1936–7
See all 40

Related art terms

Ancients Artists’ International Association Baroque Biomorphism Blaue Reiter, Der British War Art Analytical cubism Dada Direct carving Dutch Golden Age painting Euston Road School Expressionism Fauvism High Renaissance Impressionism National Society Neo-romanticism Northern Renaissance Objective abstraction Orientalism Renaissance Romanticism Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers Seven and Five Society Unit One

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