ALBERT IRVIN (1922–2015)

Mike Tooby reports in the Guardian that the British artist Albert Irvin has died. Known for his abstract paintings, watercolors, and prints, he became well known in the 1980s and ’90s, with his first solo show at the age of thirty-eight. Born in southeast London, he attended the Northampton School of Art but cut his studies short to join the Royal Air Force in 1941 during World War II.

After the war Irvin enrolled at Goldsmiths College in 1946 from which he graduated with a diploma in design. Irvin later returned to Goldsmiths in 1962 as a professor and taught for over twenty years.

He was closely involved with the Advanced Graphics London printshop, where he began screen printing in 1980, and he went on to become one of Britain’s foremost printmakers. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2013, and his art has appeared in Tate Britain and the Victoria and Albert Museum among other venues.