Bruce Tippet

In 1933, Bruce Tippett was born in England. He began painting and drawing at an early age and later enrolled in the Slade School of Art in London. He began working at night after graduating from the Slade School in July 1957. He created a great deal of charcoal sketches during his time at Slade, frequently visiting construction sites around London with his sketchbook before the workers arrived to get to work.

As an artist he worked in a variety of media, initially in a figurative, then abstract approach. I was motivated by Japanese flicks and brush paintings throughout the last year. After having his first solo exhibition at Lords Gallery in 1958, he was given a French Government Scholarship and resided in Paris from 1959 to 1962. While there, he developed an interest in modern American painting and started using experimental textiles and roller and pour paint. He worked in Rome before moving to America in 1965. He joined the Betty Parsons Gallery in 1966 and was a member for a long time. Late in the 1960s, several rubber matting-based pieces were created, some of which invited audience participation.

Tippett has consistently exhibited a mastery of his craft throughout his career, as well as the beauty and refinement of surface that have made him famous. After moving back to London in the 1980s to live and work, Tippet spent the following ten years travelling in India and dividing his time between London and France. He has been residing and working in a studio in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, France, since 2005.