Norman Stevens: Selected Prints at the RA

Norman Stevens (1937–88) originally trained as a painter alongside John Loker, David Hockney and David Oxtoby in the 50s at Bradford College of Art. After graduating from the RCA he built a career as a landscape painter and teacher at Manchester, Maidstone and Hornsey Colleges of Art.

A master of the medium, Stevens taught himself the various techniques of printmaking, including the complicated process of mezzotint. In the early 1970s and in the process, he found an art form that perfectly suited his meticulous and subtle approach, enabling him to produce images of great precision and subtlety.

Exploring the landscape and built environment, his prints make use of colour, light and shade to powerful and often haunting effect. Human presence is always suggested but never shown, like a ‘game of hide-and-seek with the real world’ in words of the art critic, William Packer.

This magnificent exhibition explores Stevens’ work from the first black and white etchings he produced in the 1970s to his vividly coloured, large-scale screen-prints of the 1980s. At the heart of the display are several important series of prints, beginning with his early explorations of the visual effects of sunlight on Venetian blinds and ‘clapboard’ houses.

Then you will find his powerful depictions of the iconic pre-historic monuments at Stonehenge and Avebury and his captivating views of English formal gardens.

And finally, Morning (1974) and Clapboard House, Fronds and Architectural French Curve (1973), pictured above, which are simply stunning masterpieces.

Don’t miss the chance to admire them.
You have time until 25 May 2014; get your tickets here.