Francis Hamel
Francis Hamel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1963 |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Painter, portraitist |
| Website | francishamel |
Francis Hamel (born 1963)[1] is a British painter based in Oxford.[2] He is known for landscapes and portraits.[3]
Early life and education
[edit]Hamel attended Summer Fields School in north Oxford and Marlborough College, and studied at the Ruskin School of Art (1982–1985) while a student of Magdalen College, Oxford.[3][2]
Career
[edit]In a 1995 Sunday Times article Hamel was quoted as saying that only two others of his 30 contemporaries at the Ruskin School of Art were earning a living as professional painters, and that "the most important thing is just painting pictures all the time. It takes a terribly long time to get even half decent at it. There is also a measure of luck thrown in. At the moment people seem to want to buy the kind of pictures I'm painting."[4] He had sold more than a quarter of the works in his first one-man exhibition by the end of the private view.[4]
Hamel's portrait of Brian Fall (2002) is in the collection of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.[1]
In 2008 he was commissioned to paint a large group of works for the refurbished Fortnum & Mason store in London.[5]
In 2015 and 2016 he was commissioned to paint a series of portraits of the past holders of the University of Oxford's Cameron Mackintosh Professorship of Contemporary Theatre.[6] In 2019 he was invited by the Victoria and Albert museum to set up a studio in the museum's Prince Consort Gallery, where 27 of these portraits of well known people from the theatre world were displayed. The event, titled Behind the Curtain: Francis Hamel in Residence saw the artist working live while in dialogue with the public. The works on display included portraits of such well known figures as Stephen Sondheim and Deborah Warner,[7] and causing some controversy, Kevin Spacey, who had held the Mackintosh Professorship in 2008.[8][9] A book containing a broad selection of Hamel's paintings and drawings was published to coincide with the Victoria and Albert museum exhibition (John Martin Gallery, 2019: ISBN 978-1-9993013-1-6).[10][2]
Hamel's 2020 exhibition Painting the Yellow Mountain at the John Martin Gallery showed painting resulting from trips to China and Hong Kong in 2019.[11]
Hamel lives in a cottage in the grounds of Rousham House and during lockdown in 2020–2021 made a series of 80 paintings of the gardens while they were closed to the public.[12] These were exhibited at Rousham and at the John Martin Gallery in London in October and November 2021,[13] and published with essays by various writers as The Gardens at Rousham (Clearview, 2021: ISBN 978-1908337610).[14]
In October 2021 Hamel appeared on BBC Radio 4's The Museum of Curiosity, when his hypothetical donation to this imaginary museum was the painting The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch.[15][16]
In 2025, Hamel exhibited 'The Oxford Paintings', and published a book containing a selection of his paintings of Oxford to accompany the exhibition (John Martin Gallery, 2025: ISBN 978-1908337-757).[17][18]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Francis Hamel". artuk.org. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
- ^ a b c "About Francis". Francis Hamel. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
- ^ a b Mayhew Craddock, Sarah (26 March 2015). "Francis Hamel hits the circus". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
- ^ a b Hague, Helen (23 April 1995). "The fine art of ..." Sunday Times: Art. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
- ^ "Projects". Francis Hamel. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
- ^ Hardyment, Christina (15 April 2016). "Painting the most colourful professors". Oxford Today. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
- ^ "Behind the Curtain: Francis Hamel in Residence – Special event at the Prince Consort Gallery, V&A South Kensington". Victoria and Albert Museum. 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2025.
- ^ "V&A Defends Plan to Exhibit Kevin Spacey Portrait". Frieze. 16 April 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
- ^ Harris, Gareth (12 April 2019). "Portrait of Kevin Spacey going on show at V&A raises questions". The Art Newspaper – International art news and events. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
- ^ "Publication: Paintings & Drawings – Francis Hamel". John Martin Gallery. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
- ^ "Painting The Yellow Mountain". John Martin Gallery. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
- ^ "Francis Hamel in conversation with Tom Stuart-Smith". Garden Museum. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
- ^ "Rousham, Through the Gardens". John Martin Gallery. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
- ^ Richardson, Tim (28 September 2021). "A love letter to one of Britain's best-kept secrets". The Telegraph. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
- ^ "Series 16, Episode 1". The Museum of Curiosity. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
- ^ "The Museum Of Curiosity: Gallery 16, Episode 1". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
- ^ "Francis Hamel – The Oxford Paintings". John Martin Gallery. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
- ^ "The Oxford Paintings Francis". Francis Hamel. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
External links
[edit]- Artworks by or after Francis Hamel at the Art UK site
- A Certain Tree Video where Hamel discusses painting trees