Basil Beattie

Basil Beattie (born 1935) is a British painter and printmaker. He studied at West Hartlepool College of Art (1950-55) and the Royal Academy Schools (1957–61). He is known for his painterly style and symbolic use of recognisable forms or pictograms including arches, steps, ladders and doorways which are recurrent motifs in his work.

During his teaching career at Goldsmiths College during the 1980s and 1990s, Beattie had a significant influence on the next generations of artists, including the Young British Artists (‘YBAs’) who rose to international prominence in the 1990s.

Beattie’s work was showcased at Tate Britain in 2007, featuring acquisitions of his work from the previous 20 years, and in 2016, the Middlesbrough Institute of Art mounted a survey of his work, When Now Becomes Then: Three Decades. Beattie became an elected member of the Royal Academy of Art, London in 2006 and in 2018 the Academy presented a solo exhibition of works on paper, A Passage of Time. Beattie has twice been shortlisted for the Jerwood Prize and once for the Charles Wollaston Award. His works are held in numerous public and private collections including the Arts Council Collection; Birmingham City Art Gallery; the Chartwell Collection; Contemporary Art Society; Government Art Collection, UK; Tate Gallery; Royal Academy of Arts; Saatchi Collection; and the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery.