Biography
John Hoyland was born in England in 1934 and was educated in art from an early age. After graduating from the Sheffield School of Art and Crafts and then moving to the Sheffield College of Art and the RA Schools in London, Hoyland travelled overseas, hitch-hiking in southern France- a stark contrast to the bleak surroundings of where he grew up, with the landscapes coming as something of a revelation to him.
However, his true influence came from an annual London show that featured predominantly large abstract paintings of at least 30 square feet in size- from here, his inspiration for the artwork he would become known for was born. In 1964, Hoyland’s first solo exhibition was held in the Marlborough New London Gallery, with this first solo museum show in 1967 at the Whitechapel Art Gallery. His work at that time was mostly characterised by high-key colour, simplistic shapes and a flat picture surface- however, in the 1970s, his work began to become more textured.
Made a Royal Academician, over the decades John’s work have been exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Tate, the Yale Centre for British Art, and Damien Hirst’s Murderme Collection. Hoyland died in July 2011, aged 76.