Antony Bream

"Drawing is key to Tony Bream's art, giving strength to his impressionistic watercolours and paintings as well as to the work in charcoal. His views of Petra are particularly impressive, and in one of them, the crags above the Bab-es-Siq, he takes on two illustrious predecessors, Bomberg and Roberts - and wins. Where Roberts elongates for picturesque appeal, and Bomberg loses structure in colouring, Bream gives us the power of looming desert rocks. Some of the Jerusalem watercolours make a respectful nod to Sargent, others invoke H. B. Brabazon, that most professional amateur, but whatever the heritage he absorbs, they are quintessential Bream."

Huon Mallalieu, art critic

Antony Bream (b. 1943) held his first major exhibition at the Fine Art Society in 1979, and subsequently has had one-man shows at numerous West End galleries including Derek Johns, St James's Art Group, Messum's and Rafael Valls. He has received major commissions from industry and commerce for large figure paintings, including the much admired Bar picture at Green's Restaurant in St James's.  

 

Bream has worked extensively as a painter of portraits, interiors, and landscapes and has travelled widely, painting en plein air in Australia, India, North Africa, Egypt, Yemen, Turkey, Kenya, the USA and Europe. In 2013 he exhibited paintings of the Holy Land and Petra at the Daggett Gallery, Kensington, and subsequently spent a month painting on the island of North Haven, Maine. More recently he has concentrated on a group of large-scale interiors and still lifes. His landscapes have focused on the north Kent coast and several painting trips to Spain, most recently Segovia and Galicia. To mark their 150th anniversary, Bream was commissioned by the Savile Club in London's Mayfair to paint a series of interiors of the club and portrait studies of members.

 

Exhibitions and travels:

2024​​ REDROCK GALLERY - Faversham, April - 'Brief Encounters'

 

2023​ BEANEY HOUSE OF ART & KNOWLEDGE - Canterbury, December 2023 - February 2024 - 'Storytellers' - Group exhibition 

OYSTER BAY HOUSE - Faversham, September - 'Low Tide'

April - Painting in Gascony

 

2022​ Painting large figure interiors

August - Painting in southern France

May - Painting in Tuscany

 

2021​ OYSTER BAY HOUSE - Faversham, ​November - December - 'Recent Work'

 

2020 REDROCK GALLERY, Faversham, October - 'Kent Coast'

 INDAR PASRICHA FINE ARTS, London, August - September - 'The Enchantment of Gardens'

 

2019​ ROYAL SOCIETY OF PORTRAIT PAINTERS, London, ​May

 

2018​ MONCRIEFF-BRAY GALLERY, Petworth, May - June - Summer Exhibition

 

2017​ August - Painting in Brittany

May - Painting in Tuscany

March - Painting in Fez and Meknes

 

2016​ PIERS FEETHAM GALLERY, Fulham Road, London, November 21st - 26th

 August - September - Painting in Segovia and Galicia

 March - Painting in Morocco

 Painting portraits and interiors at the Savile Club, London

 

2015 ​August - Painting in Normandy

OSBORNE STUDIO GALLERY, Motcomb Street, London, ​March - Venice in Peril

Painting still-life interiors for Cricket Fine Art.

ALEXANDER CENTRE, Town Hall, Faversham, January - June - Kent landscapes

 

2014​ August - Painting in Cadiz and Seville

 ​March - April - Painting in Rome and Venice

 ​FINE ART COMMISSIONS, Duke Street, St James's, London

​January - Portrait representative

 

2013​ September - Painting on North Haven Island, Maine

August - Painting in the forest of Fontainebleau, France

DAGGET GALLERY , Kensington Church Street, London, June - 'Antony Bream - A Perspective'; solo exhibition

May - Painting in Jordan and Israel

 

2012​ August - Painting in Andalucia, Spain

April - May - Painting in Venice

March - April - Painting and teaching in Aubais, France

 

2011  ​CREEK CREATIVE, Faversham, Kent

September - 'Faversham and Beyond' - Oils and drawings; solo exhibition 

CRICKET FINE ART, Park Walk, London,

​August - Summer Exhibition - 'Interiors' - group exhibition

April - Painting at Highclere Castle

 

2010​ OSBORNE STUDIO GALLERY, Motcomb Street, London, ​October - 'A good Vintage' - group exhibition

​ABBOTT & HOLDER, Museum Street, London

​June - 'Sunshine and Shadow' - Forty watercolours of ​North Africa, India, Kenya, France, Italy & England; solo exhibition 

​OSBORNE STUDIO GALLERY, Motcomb Street, London,  ​May - 'Flora' - Group exhibition: garden

OAKHAM CONTEMPORARY GALLERY, Bury Street, London, ​March - group exhibition: large still lifes

 

2009​ CRICKET FINE ART, Langton Street, London, May - Exhibition of nudes: group show

 

2008​ FROST & REED, King Street, St James's, London, May - June - 'Seeing and Believing' 200th Anniversary Exhibition group show

 

2007​ PETLEY FINE ART, Royal Arcade, London, June - 'The Artist as Traveller' - exhibition of oils, watercolours and drawings; solo exhibition 

 

2006 ANN LONG FINE ART, Charleston, South Carolina, September - October - Exhibition of oil paintings of South Carolina; solo exhibition 

PETLEY FINE ART - Cork Street, London

February - Group show, drawings

 

2005​ RAFAEL VALLS - Ryder Street, St James's, London, June - 'Recent Works', Oils and watercolours; solo exhibition

 

2002​ INDAR PASRICHA - Connaught Street, London, ​April - 'An Indian Journey'; solo exhibition

THE ARNDEANE GALLERY - Cork Street, London, March - April - Mixed Show - Portraits and Landscapes

 

1999​ DAVID MESSUM GALLERY - Cork Street, London, December 'New Paintings'; solo exhibition

 

1998​ DAVID MESSUM GALLERY - Duke Street, St James's, London, June - 'Venice' - Watercolours; solo exhibition

 

1997​ JONATHAN COOPER GALLERY - Park Walk, London, June - Oils and watercolours; solo exhibition

 

1995​ HARARI & JOHNS - Duke Street, St James's, London, June - 'Paintings of Corfu' - Oils and watercolours; solo exhibition

 

1994​ DAVID MESSUM GALLERY - Cork Street, London, April - Opening Exhibition - 'Watercolours of Tunisia'; solo exhibition

 

1993​ ST JAMES'S ART GROUP - Jermyn Street, London, December; solo exhibition

 ST JAMES'S ART GROUP - Jermyn Street, London, June - Portraits