Born: 24 August 1928, London, UK
Elected Associate Royal Academy: 20 May 1985
Elected Royal Academy: 26 June 1991
Category of Membership: Printmaker

Biography:

Joe Tilson initially worked as a carpenter and joiner from 1944 to 1946, before carrying out his National Service in the RAF until 1949. He went on to study at St. Martin's School of Art, London from 1949 to 1952 and at the Royal College of Art,
London from 1952 to 1955 where he received the Rome Prize, taking him to live in Italy in 1955. He returned to London in 1957, and from 1958 to 1963, he taught at St Martin's Schoolof Art, and subsequently at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, Kings College, Newcastle upon Tyne, The School of Visual Arts, New York and the Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste, Hamburg.

Tilson's first one-man shows were held at the Marlborough Gallery, London in 1962 and at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool in 1963. In 1977 he joined the Waddington Galleries and is at present represented by Theo Waddington Fine Art, the Alan Cristea Gallery and by Giò Marconi Galleries.

His work first gained international exposure at the XXXII Venice Biennale, leading to his first retrospective at the Boyman's Museum, Rotterdam in 1964. Further retrospective exhibitions were held at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1979 and at the Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol in 1984. He has continued to exhibit regularly in solo shows throughout the world and a major retrospective, 'Joe Tilson: Pop to Present', is being held at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (Sackler Galleries) from 14 March to 12 April 2002.

Among Tilson's awards are the Gulbenkian Foundation Prize in 1960 and the Grand Prix d'Honneur, Biennale of Ljubljana in 1996, the year in which he was invited to paint the banner for the Palio, Siena. He was elected Royal Academician in 1991 (ARA 1985) and lives and works in London and Cortona, Tuscany.

Recent Solo Exhibitions:

2002 Royal Academy of Arts, London (Sackler Galleries)
Beaux Arts, London
Alan Cristea Gallery, London

2001 Castelbasso, Abruzzo
Giò Marconi, Milan

2000 Galleria Comunale d'Arte, Cesena
Civica Pinacoteca "Amedeo Modigliani", Follonica

1999 Castello Doria, Porto Venere
Palazzo Pubblico, Siena
Theo Waddington, Boca Raton, Florida
Peter Guyther Gallery, London

1998 Marino alla Scala, Milan
Theo Waddington Fine Art, London

1997 Cankarjev Dom., Ljubljana

1996 Mestna Gallery, Ljubljana
Annandale Galleries, Sydney

1995 Alan Cristea Gallery, London
Theo Waddington Fine Art, London
Palazzo Pubblico, Siena
Westend Galerie, Frankfurt

1994 Galleria Rotta, Genova
Pinacoteca, Macerata

1993 Heter A Hunermann Galerie GmbH, Dusseldorf
Cooperativa Ceramica d'Imola
Giò Marconi, Milan
Multimedia Brescia

1992 Waddington Galleries, London
Waddington Graphics, London
Extra Moemia, Todi

1991 Galerie Inge Baecker, Cologne
Tour Fromage, Aosta
Plymouth City Museum

1990 Fortezza Medicea, Cortona
Centro Culturale Fontanella Borghese, Rome

Selected Public Collections:

Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Arts Council of Great Britain, London
Australian National Gallery, Canberra
British Council, London
Contemporary Art Society, London
Christchurch College, Oxford
Galleria Nazzionale d' Arte Moderna, Rome
Gulbenkian Foundation, London
Johannesburg Art Gallery
Kunsthalle, Basel
Kunstverein, Hamburg
Laing Art Gallery and Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh
New College, Oxford
Queensland Art Gallery
Royal Academy, London
South African National Gallery, Capetown
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Tate Gallery, London
Ulster Museum, Belfast
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Yale Centre for British Art