Biography

Fred Cuming was born in London 1930 and studied at Sidcup School of Art from 1945 - 1949. After completing his National Service he went on to study at the Royal College of Art from 1951 - 1955. He was awarded an Abbey Minor Scholarship to The British School of Rome, Italy in 1955. Cuming was elected a Royal Academician in 1974 (ARA 1969). He is a Member of the New English Art Club and an Associate of the Royal College of Art.

Among Cuming’s many awards are the Grand Prix Fine Art (1977), the Royal Academy’s House and Garden Award and the Sir Brinsley Ford Prize (New English Art Club, 1986). He was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate of the Arts at Kent University in 2004 and was an Artist in Residence at Christchurch Canterbury between 2016 - 2017.

Cuming’s first solo show was held at the Thackeray Gallery in 1978 and he has continued to exhibit regularly in the UK, Ireland, Europe and the United States. His work has been included in many group exhibitions since 1953. In 2001 he was given the honour of being the featured artist in the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition and had an entire gallery within the show dedicated to his work. His work is held in countless private and public collections around the world.

Cuming has devoted his life to expressing the fleeting impressions of his surroundings, often painting the South Coast of England around Hastings, Camber and Rye. His work is about responses to the moods and atmospheres generated by landscape, still life or interior. He is interested in the developments of 20th century painting, in abstraction, that has been present in all movements and in new ideas and art forms. He has been inspired by masters of colour such as J.M.W. Turner, Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse and Paul Nash. Cuming’s major subject is how to use colour and light in his painting to represent the natural world.

Résumé

Awards of note

  • Grand Prix de l’Art Contemporaries
  • New English Club
  • Winner of Grand Prix Fine Art, Monaco
  • Sir Brinsley-Ford Award

Public Collections

  • Abbot Hall
  • Bradford & Scunthorpe Museum
  • Brighton & Hove Museum
  • Canterbury Museum
  • Cartwright Hall Art Gallery
  • Carlisle Museum & Art Gallery
  • Chantry Bequest
  • Cheltenham & Gloucester
  • Cooper Gallery
  • Department of the Environment
  • Farendon Trust
  • Government Art Collection
  • Guinness Collection
  • Kendal Museum
  • Kent Education Committee
  • Kent University
  • Lloyds of London
  • London Tourist Board
  • London Weekend Television
  • Loughborough University
  • Maidstone Museum
  • Ministry of Works
  • Monte Carlo Museum
  • National Museum of Wales
  • National Portrait Gallery
  • National Trust
  • New Metropole Art Collection
  • North Lincolnshire Museum
  • Preston Museum
  • Royal Academy of Arts Collection
  • Royal Collection Trust
  • Royal College of Art Collection
  • Ruth Borchard Collection
  • Salford Museum & Art Gallery
  • Scunthorpe Museum
  • Shell
  • Southend Museum
  • St John’s College Cambridge
  • St John’s College Oxford
  • Stormont Gallery, Rye
  • Towneley Hall Museum
  • Towner Gallery, Eastbourne
  • WH Smith Ltd
  • Williamson Museum
  • Worcester College, Oxford

Mixed Exhibitions

  • Adam Gallery London & Bath
  • Agnews London
  • Alresford Gallery Hampshire
  • Arts Festival of Hong Kong Hong Kong
  • Brandler Galleries London
  • Brian Sinfield Gallery Oxfordshire
  • Bridgepoint Rye East Sussex
  • Century Gallery Windsor
  • Courcoux & Courcoux Hampshire
  • City Gallery London
  • David Messum Fine Art London
  • Duncan Campbell Gallery London
  • Duncan R. Miller Fine Arts London
  • Edinburgh Gallery Edinburgh
  • Fairfax Gallery London
  • Folkestone Museum Kent
  • Gallery 10 London
  • Gallery 41 Somerset
  • Geedon Gallery Essex
  • Goldmark Rutland
  • Grafton House Gallery Oxfordshire
  • Island Fine Arts Isle Of Wight
  • John Moores Liverpool
  • Jonleigh Gallery Surrey
  • Langham Fine Art Suffolk
  • Leicester Gallery Leicestershire
  • Linden Hall Studios Kent
  • Little Studio New York
  • Lloyd’s of London Lloyd’s of London
  • Manya Igel Fine Arts London
  • Mason Watts Fine Art Warwick
  • Minster Gallery Winchester
  • New English Art Club London
  • Newman & Saunders Galleries USA
  • New Grafton Gallery London
  • New Metropole Kent
  • Odette Gilbert Gallery London
  • Pattersons Fine Art London
  • Piccadilly Gallery London
  • Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition London (Since 1953)
  • Royal Hibernian Academy Dublin
  • Royal Scottish Academy Edinburgh
  • Royal Society of Portrait Painters London
  • Royal West of England Academy Bristol
  • Rye Art Gallery East Sussex
  • Sandersons of Berners Street London
  • Southgate Gallery Gloucestershire
  • Sladers Yard Dorset
  • Stafford Gallery London
  • St Hellier Galleries Jersey
  • The Alton Gallery Suffolk
  • The Royal Museum Canterbury
  • Thompsons Gallery London
  • Walker Galleries Harrogate
  • William Morris Gallery London
  • Wren Gallery Oxfordshire
  • W H Patterson London
  • Zillah Bell Gallery Yorkshire

Solo Exhibitions

YearGalleryLocation
2021London
2020London & Bath
London
2019East Sussex
London & Bath
2018London & Bath
2017London
Kent
2016London & Bath
2015London
2014London & Bath
2013Oxfordshire
London
London
2012Oxfordshire
2011London
2010London
2009Oxfordshire
London
2008London & Bath
2006London & Bath
London
2005Canterbury
2004London
2002Hampshire
London
2001London
London
London & Bath
Canterbury
Hampshire
London
2000London
1999Greenwich, Connecticut, USA
London
Canterbury
Hampshire
Dublin
London & Bath
Dallas, Texas, USA
1998Dallas, Texas, USA
London
Guildford
Dublin
Norwich
1997London
Hampshire
London
1996London
Warwick
London
1995London
Guildford
London
1994London
Oxfordshire
Warwick
Guildford
1993London
1992London
Oxfordshire
Warwick
1991Canterbury
1991London
1990London
East Sussex
Oxfordshire
1988London
1987Canterbury
London
1986Yorkshire
1985London
1984Canterbury
1983London
1971Kent
c2005 Germany
Unknown London
Bath
Warwick
Lewes
Chichester
Eastbourne
Kent
Durham
Kent
London
London