Painter, printmaker and teacher, born in Poole, Dorset, father of the artist and photographer Jacob Sutton, with whom he shared a show at Berkeley Square Gallery, 1999. He was brought up in London’s East End, left school at 14, worked in a drawing office for three years and did his National Service during the Berlin Airlift. Studied at Slade School of Fine Art, 1948–53, where he won the Summer Composition Prize, travelling to Spain, France and Italy on scholarships. Had a first one-man show in 1956, one of many, at Roland, Browse and Delbanco, the year he was elected a member of the LG. Won a special award at John Moores Liverpool Exhibition in 1957 and second prize six years later. Taught at the Slade, 1954–63, then travelled for a year to Australia and Fiji to paint.
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The environment suited Sutton’s style – direct painting in front of the object or model, using bright, clear colours. His wife Heather made a film, Philip Sutton Working in Fiji. He had a retrospective at Leeds City Art Gallery, 1960, another at RA in 1977, the year he was made an associate, becoming a full member in 1989, the year he began to paint in Pembrokeshire, settling at Manorbier, near Tenby. Later exhibitions included ceramics at Odette Gilbert Gallery, 1987; an Oriel Theatr Clywd touring exhibition in Wales, 1993–4; Philip Sutton in Pembrokeshire, to celebrate the opening of the new gallery at Tenby Museum and Art Gallery, 1995; Paintings from Manorbier, Piano Nobile Fine Paintings, 2001; and A Celebration of Colour, Gallery, 27, 2004, which showed that, after over 50 years, he was still producing exuberantly rich canvases. In 2005, Sutton’s bold, brilliant woodcuts made 1962–76, previously unseen in public, were displayed at the RA. His 2006 exhibition of paintings at the Richmond Hill Gallery, Richmond, had a profusely illustrated catelogue. Sutton was noted for his versatility, works including tapestry designs made at West Dean College; a wall of tiles, commissioned by Pentagram, for DNB Bank, Amsterdam; Post Office greetings stamps; a London Transport Soho poster; and colour woodcuts on Japanese paper, working with IM Imprint. Arts Council, Tate Gallery and many other British and foreign collections hold Sutton’s work.
Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)
