Original Mixed Media 'Femme du Midi' by Ivor Abrahams RA - Signed & Dated 79

This is an original signed painted cut-out in mixed media mainly gouache and charcoal. The work is signed by the artist in pencil and dated (19)79. The cut-outs were studies the artist made for sculptures exhibited in the early 1980s. The Femme du Midi themed works were a significant series by the artist in various forms of media. Ivor Abrahams studied at St Martin’s School of Art under Anthony Caro from 1952 to 1953 and at Camberwell School of Art under Karel Vogel from 1954 to 1957. He was apprenticed at the Fiorini Art bronze foundry in 1957 and went on to work as a display artist for Adele Rootstein. After extensive travel in Europe, he became a visiting lecturer in Sculpture at Birmingham College of Art and Coventry College of Art between 1960 and 1964. He was a visiting lecturer at Goldsmiths College of Art, the Royal College of Art (Prints Department) and the Slade School of Art; from 2007 – 2010, he was Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools. Ivor Abrahams’s first show was with Peter Blake at the Portal Gallery in 1960. He also exhibited in the landmark 22 Young Sculptors at the Ica in 1961. His first Us solo show was with Richard Feigen Gallery in 1970. Abrahams established his international reputation with a major museum show at the Kolnisher Kunstverein, Cologne, in 1973. He went on to have solo shows in museums and private galleries in Europe and the United States. These included a major retrospective at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 1984. Recent solo exhibitions were held at the RA in the Tennant Gallery (2011), and the Mayor Gallery, London in 2013.