Biography
I paint my pictures in my studio in West Cornwall.
The pictures are inventions, or reinventions of reality, based on a lifetime of looking , and built up from sketches, ideas, and growing out of the process of painting itself. By 'the process of painting' I mean the manipulation of shapes and colours, their alteration to fit in with each other, and the change in the balance, rhythm and meaning of the picture that this entails.
Perhaps because they are inventions, the pictures show a kind of reality that is unfamiliar to many people. They are not, for instance, photographic images. They are paintings of things rather than the appearance of things. Sometimes they may appear a little awkward and strange, but it is their awkwardness that gives them the power to communicate, to say things rather than simply to illustrate them.
If you look at my earlier work (which has been archived in this present site) you will see that I have done a large amount of painting and drawing of different kinds.
I started my career as a painter of landscape and still life with a few portraits, and I worked in this way for perhaps 25 years, when I lived in London and Norfolk. I also painted from memory and imagination, and I made something of a speciality of aerial views - mostly of grand houses - for the National Trust and the owners of stately homes.
Over the past 15 - 20 years, the invented paintings have come to the fore, and I have also taken an interest in sculpture and in gardens and planting.
BIOGRAPHY
Richard Sorrell was born in 1948, the son of Alan Sorrell, the historical draughtsman and painter, and Elizabeth Sorrell, the watercolourist.
He studied at the Royal Academy Schools (Post Graduate Course), having also attended Walthamstow Art School (Pre-Diploma) and Kingston College of Art (Dip AD)
He was elected to the Royal Watercolour Society in 1975, served as Vice President of that society 2002 - 05, and was elected President 2006 - 09. You can find a summation of his three years' work as President of the Royal Watercolour Society here.
He was an Executive Committee member of the New English Art Club 1995 - 2006 and 2009-10, and is also a member of the Royal Society of British Artists (by whom he was awarded the De Laslo Medal in 2002), the Small Paintings Group, The Art Workers Guild and the Chelsea Arts Club. He was a Governor of the Mall Galleries from 2000-06.
EXHIBITIONS
Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions since 1971
Royal Watercolour Society Exhibitions since 1975
Royal Society of British Artists since 1985 (featured artist 1993)
New English Art Club since 1995
Small Pictures Group since 200
1975 DLI Museum and Art Gallery, Durham
1978 Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend on Sea
1980 Hayward Gallery, Lutyens Exhibition
1981 - 93 Agnews
1992 Cadogan Gallery
1994/6 Lynn Strover Gallery, Cambridge
1996 The Old Workshop Gallery, Norfolk
1996 Kentmere House Gallery, York
LLewellyn Alexander Gallery 1996-present
Manor House Gallery, Chipping Norton 1996 - 2008
1997 Leamington Spa Art Gallery (with Edmund Fairfax-Lucy)
1997 - 9 Langham Fine Art
Thompson's Gallery, Stow on the Wold and Marylebone 1997 - present
Woodgates Gallery, East Bergholt
Brian Sinfield Gallery
2002/3 Guildford Arts (Mill Gallery)
Art in Action
2002 - 06 Sheen Gallery
2003 Alresford Gallery
2003 & 2007 Alpha House Gallery, Sherbourne Dorset
2003 - present Galleries Sternberg, Chicago
2008 Chappel Galleries, Essex
2009 Rainyday Gallery, Penzance
2010 - present Fosse Gallery, Stow on the Wold
2010 Rowley Fine Art , Winchester
2010 -12 Petleys Gallery
COLLECTIONS
Victoria and Albert Museum: aerial view of Channel Tunnel workings at Shakespeare cliff, with supporting material and drawings
The National Trust: aerial views of Blickling, Ickworth, Uppark and paintings of Calke Abbey, Flatford Mill, Oakhurst Cottage,Surrey
The Museum of London
The Faringdon Collection
Norwich City Council
The Courtauld Institute
Godalming Museum
Beecroft art Gallery, Southend on Sea
Basildon Arts Trust
In 2001 Richard Sorrell presented a picture of her Centenary parade to HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.