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A composite image of three Derrick Greaves works. From left to right. Hokusai, Towards A Walled Garden 2, and Blossom III. Hokusai has a brown background. Two thin pink lines split the artwork into thirds. In the central third, there are black lilypad shapes, then one orange and one red one. In the other two sections, the lilypads are all red. There are also flat, red cone shapes. Towards A Walled Garden 2 depicts a garden wall. It looks like a mosaic, with thick black lines between the green, blue and purple coloured bricks. There are small red flowers over the wall, also outlined in black. A bright blue sky shows above the wall. Blossom III has a green background. A black tree trunk extends up from the centre of the image, meeting a mass of pink blossom about half way that covers the top half of the image. The tree fades to a grey colour within the blossom. a small patch of yellow fills the bottom right quarter of the image, cut off by the tree trunk. An image of Derrick Greaves' 2021 work Towards A Walled Garden 2. It depicts a garden wall. It looks like a mosaic, with thick black lines between the green, blue and purple coloured bricks. There are small red flowers over the wall, also outlined in black. A bright blue sky shows above the wall.

L-R: Derrick Greaves, Hokusai, 1994; Derrick Greaves, Towards A Walled Garden 2, 2021; Derrick Greaves, Blossom III, 2020 © Estate of Derrick Greaves, courtesy of James Hyman Gallery, London

© Estate Of Derrick Greaves, Courtesy Of James Hyman Gallery, London

Derrick Greaves: Art Worlds

Sat 25 January - Sat 21 June 2025

Graves Gallery

Derrick Greaves (1927 – 2022) grew up in Sheffield and his early experiences here had a significant impact on the development of his painting. This exhibition at the Graves Gallery was the first retrospective of his work since his death, bringing together a selection of paintings, drawings and sketchbooks from a career spanning eight decades.

 

Derrick Greaves was one of the most acclaimed British painters of the last half century. He initially gained recognition in the 1950s, when he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale along with the other 'Kitchen-Sink' painters with whom he was associated. His work developed from the social realism of the 1950s to a more heraldic style that paralleled 1960s Pop Art, from an imagery based on nature and observable fact to more studio-bound imaginative constructs.

Art Worlds explored the sources of inspiration in Greaves’ work and presented 20 paintings made between 1942 and 2021, alongside drawings, photographs and more. Curated in collaboration with James Hyman and the artist’s estate, the exhibition was structured around four themes – Home Life, The World of the Studio, The Art of the Past and The Natural World.

A photograph of Derrick Greaves 1953 Work Sheffield. It is a sepia toned painting, with a brushed brown background. The midground is filled with black linework detailing houses and factories, spanning across the bottom half of the image. On the left of the foreground stands a disheveled factory with broken windows. Simple birds fly around the old factory.

Derrick Greaves, Sheffield, 1953

© Estate of Derrick Greaves, courtesy of James Hyman Gallery, London

Exhibition highlights

  • A photograph of Derrick Greaves' 2020 work Blossom (Two Trees). The painting has a bright green background and depicts two trees side by side. On the left of the image, a pink blossom tree with a red trunk is depicted in bold lines. The trunk has an orange outline. On the right, there is a white blossom tree with a purple trunk. It has a darker purple outline. A collection of small white circles represent the individual blossoms on both trees.

    Derrick Greaves, Blossom (Two Trees), 2020

    © Estate of Derrick Greaves, courtesy of James Hyman Gallery, London

  • An image of Derrick Greaves' 2021 work Towards A Walled Garden 2. It depicts a garden wall. It looks like a mosaic, with thick black lines between the green, blue and purple coloured bricks. There are small red flowers over the wall, also outlined in black. A bright blue sky shows above the wall.

    Derrick Greaves, Towards A Walled Garden 2, 2021

    © Estate of Derrick Greaves, courtesy of James Hyman Gallery, London

  • A photograph of Derrick Greaves 1953 work Venice In The Rain. It is a mostly grey toned image, with small amounts of sepia tones on the left of the image, like the sun is shining in. It depicts a row of Venetian houses along side the water. It is raining and the water looks choppy.

    Derrick Greaves, Venice in the Rain, 1953

    © Estate of Derrick Greaves, courtesy of James Hyman Gallery, London

  • An image of Derrick Greaves' 1994 work Hokusai. It has a brown background a pink trim around the edge. Two thin pink lines split the artwork into thirds. In the central third, there are black lilypad shapes, then one orange and one red one. In the other two sections, the lilypads are all red. There are also flat, red cone shapes.

    Derrick Greaves, Hokusai, 1994

    © Estate of Derrick Greaves, courtesy of James Hyman Gallery, London

  • This image has a background comprised of different sized rectangles in shades of green and yellow. Each square has a line work image inside. Three depict very simplistic bird outlines, one a potted plant with purple flowers, one shows two tree trunks, and others have rectangular and geometric lines.

    Derrick Greaves, Wall Drawings, 2003

    © Estate of Derrick Greaves, courtesy of James Hyman Gallery, London

  • This work has a majority brown background, with a small patch of burgundy on the left of the image. There is a rectangle framing the image, with different colours on each side: blue across the top, then (clockwise) green, burgundy and pink. Four other coloured lines (yellow, light pink, maroon, and orange) split the image in two. Underneath all this, is red linework of the acropolis on its hill in Athens.

    Derrick Greaves, Acropolis, 1999

    © Estate of Derrick Greaves, courtesy of James Hyman Gallery, London

  • Blossom III has a green background. A black tree trunk extends up from the centre of the image, meeting a mass of pink blossom about half way that covers the top half of the image. The tree fades to a grey colour within the blossom. a small patch of yellow fills the bottom right quarter of the image, cut off by the tree trunk.

    Derrick Greaves, Blossom III, 2020

    © Estate of Derrick Greaves, courtesy of James Hyman Gallery, London

  • Iris II has a deep blue background. It shows three irises on each third of the horizontal painting, all outlined in black. The first (on the left) has a black stem, black petals and a yellow center. The middle has a black stem, black and purple petals and a blue center. The last (on the right) has a yellow stem, black purple and pink petals, and a blue center.

    Derrick Greaves, Iris II, 2018

    © Estate of Derrick Greaves, courtesy of James Hyman Gallery, London

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