KEN HOWARD OBE RA
London 1932 - 2022 Cornwall
Ref: CL 3846
Venice, chiaroscuro
Signed lower right: Ken Howard; titled on the stretcher
Oil on canvas: 40 x 48 in / 101.6 x 121.9 cm
Frame size: 56 ½ x 48 ½ in / 143.5 x 123.2 cm
Painted circa 2004
Provenance:
Richard Green, London, directly from the artist, January 2005;
Private collection, acquired from the above in 2005
Exhibited:
London, Richard Green, Chiaroscuro: An exhibition of recent works by Ken Howard, 23rd February-16th March 2005, no.67, illus. in colour p.73
‘I believe Venice to be the most beautiful city in the world. So many painters have worked there including Corot, Boudin, Monet, Manet, Sargent, Sickert and Whistler, and all have said something different. Everyone should visit Venice at least once in their life, it is the only place I know where once can stand on one sport and see a composition at every turn. The light is magical, the architecture majestic and of course there are no cars. Venice is unique and will become more so as other cities become more and more alike.’ Ken Howard, 2016
In this beautiful painting Ken Howard depicts one of the most celebrated views in Venice, the Grand Canal looking towards Santa Maria della Salute, the finest baroque church in the city and one of its most famous landmarks. The masterpiece of Baldassare Longhena, Santa Maria della Salute was dedicated to the Virgin in thanks for the delivery of Venice from the plague of 1630 and finally consecrated in 1687. The octagonal entrance, with its wonderful curved buttresses, echoes the shape of the Virgin’s crown, identifying her as Queen of Heaven; a statue of the Virgin as Capitana da mar, with her baton of office, crowns the lantern of the dome.
Biographical chronology
1932 Ken Howard born in London
1949-53 Studied at the Hornsey School of Art
1952 First exhibited at the Royal Academy
1953-55 National Service in the Royal Marines
1955-58 Studied at the Royal College of Art
1958-59 British Council Scholarship to Florence
1959 First exhibited at the New English Art Club
First exhibited at 147 New Bond Street
1962 Elected member of the New English Art Club
1966 Elected member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters
First prize Lord Mayor’s Art Award
1969 First prize Arundel Art Centre
1973 Appointed official artist in Ireland by the Imperial War Museum
1978 Prize winner John Moores Exhibition
1979 Elected member of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours
Prize winner John Laing Exhibition
1981 Elected member of the Royal West of England Academy
1982 First prize Hunting Group Awards
1983 Associate Member of the Royal Academy
Prize winner Royal West of England Academy
1985 Critics’ prize, Sparkasse Karlsruhe
1986 Prize winner New English Art Club Centenary Exhibition
1988 Honorary Member of the Royal Society of British Artists
Honorary Member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters
1991 Member of the Royal Academy
1998 President of the New English Art Club
2001 Critics’ prize New English Art Club 2001
2004 Elected Royal Academy Professor of Perspective
2006 Elected fellow of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters
2007 Appointed Freeman of the City of London, Liveryman Painter Stainers
2008 Honorary Member of the Society of Graphic Fine Art
2010 Awarded OBE for services to Art in the Queen’s Birthday Honours
2011 Publication of Light and Dark: The Autobiography of Ken Howard RA
2013 Publication of Ken Howard’s Switzerland: In the Footsteps of Turner
One Man Exhibitions
1955 Plymouth Art Centre
1966 John Whibley Gallery, London
1968 John Whibley Gallery, London
1971 New Grafton Gallery, London
1972 Plymouth Art Gallery – Retrospective Exhibition
1974 New Grafton Gallery, London
1976 New Grafton Gallery, London
1978 New Grafton Gallery, London
1979 New Metropole, Folkestone
Hong Kong Art Centre
St Helier Gallery
1980 St Helier Gallery
1981 New Grafton Gallery, London
1982 Nicosia
1983 Delhi 1983
1984 New Grafton Gallery, London
St Helier Gallery
1985 New Grafton Gallery, London
1986 Linton Court Gallery
1987 Lowndes Lodge Gallery, London
New Grafton Gallery, London
1989 Lowndes Lodge Gallery, London
1990 New Grafton Gallery, London
Lowndes Lodge Gallery, London
1991 Lowndes Lodge Gallery, London
Brian Sinfield Gallery, Gloucestershire
1992 Lowndes Lodge Gallery, London
1993 New Grafton Gallery, London
Brian Sinfield Gallery, Gloucestershire
1995 New Grafton Gallery, London
Brian Sinfield Gallery, Gloucestershire
1997 New Grafton Gallery, London
1998 The Everard Read, Johannesburg
2000 New Grafton Gallery, London
The Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town
2002 Richard Green, London
2003 Richard Green, London
2004 Richard Green, London
2005 Richard Green, London
2006 Richard Green, London
2007 Richard Green, London
2009 Richard Green, London
2011 Richard Green, London
2013 Richard Green, London
2015 Richard Green, London
2016 Richard Green, London
2017 Richard Green, London
Works by Ken Howard can be seen in the following public collections:
The Regimental Museum of The 13th/18th Royal Hussars (QMO) and The Light Dragoons, Barnsley
Ulster Museum, Belfast
Boston Manor House, Brentford
Brighton & Hove Museums
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
National Trust, St Michael’s Mount, Cornwall
Royal Military Police Museum, Fareham
Rushmore Borough Council Offices, Farnborough
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Les Augrès Manor, Jersey
Jersey Museum, Art Gallery & Victoria House
The Royal Court House, Jersey
Guildhall Art Gallery, London
The Imperial War Museum, London
The National Army Museum, London
Parliamentary Art Collection, London
The Postal Museum, London
Royal Academy of Arts, London
The Royal Chelsea Hospital, London
The Ruth Borchard Collection, London
The Box, Plymouth
Sheffield Art Gallery
Somerset Museums Service
Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend
Windsor and Royal Borough Museum
Commissions include: The Drapers’ Company
The Haberdashers’ Company
States of Jersey
HQ British Army of the Rhine
United Nations Forces in Cyprus
The Stock Exchange, London
Lloyds of London
The Royal Hospital, Chelsea
Banque Paribas
