Norman Stevens
Painter and Printmaker, Norman Stevens attended
Bradford Regional College of Art from 1952 to
1957.
At the Art College Norman led a group of
talented painters including Hockney, Loker
and Vaughan, leading the way to the Royal
College of Art in 1957.
Norman’s art took a while to settle into a
distinctive style, not fitting into the neat
categories of commercial or pop art. After
completing his art school training Norman
took up a career teaching at Manchester
College of Art and Maidstone College of Art
then becoming become Head of Fine Art at
Hornsey in 1971. In 1973 he took the leap
and gave up teaching to earn his living by
painting alone.
In 1970 Norman took up print making,
and quickly mastered the techniques and
processes to produce work of great finesse.
Norman’s last major projects included studies
of Kew and Kensington Gardens. In the wake
of the gales in 1987, Pirelli sponsored him in
making a print of Kew’s fallen walnut tree,
with all proceeds going to Kew Gardens Storm
Fund. In the 1988 Royal Academy exhibition
Norman Stevens demonstrated his great
versatility by creating a series of studies of
the two gardens in a variety of media- oils,
pastels, pencil and screen prints.
Norman exhibited at the British International
Print Biennale in Bradford in 1979 and
1982. He was made an Associate of the
Royal Academy in 1983 and then a Royal
Academian in 1987. On several occasions
Norman’s work has been exhibited at the
Redfern Gallery, London.
Norman died in 1988. A new show in tribute
of Norman, with Hockney, Oxtoby, Loker and
Mike Vaughan opens at the Redfern Gallery on
the 22nd July 2008. Examples of Norman’s
work are found in public collections all around
the world including the Tate, the V&A and the
Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Thanks to Jean Stevens for providing
biographical material and the photograph of
Norman taken in 1987.