David Heathcote (b. 1931)

Born in London in 1931, David Heathcote studied at Canterbury College of Art, and then at the Slade School of Art, London, during the late 1950s. A move to Africa followed, and he worked for twenty years in Zimbabwe and Nigeria: an experience that would contribute significantly to his creative vision.

Heathcote has worked creatively over sixty years, producing a vibrant body of paintings, sculpture, etchings and drawings in various media. His life experiences form the wellspring of a forceful and personal artistic language coloured both by Africa and his native landscapes. Each painting is a surface where he reflects feelings and poetic imaginings of different places.

Heathcote was shown in the 1958 Young Contemporaries exhibition at the R.B.A. Gallery, London; and in many other venues, including solo exhibitions at GV Art London, and at Beckel Odille Boïcos Gallery, Paris. His London exhibition in April 2014, in which Blue Opening (lot 122) was exhibited, was reviewed by Jackie Wullschlager in “Critic’s Choice”, ‘Life and Arts’, Financial Times, 19-20 April 2014, where she referred to Heathcote as a ‘consistently thoughtful artist’.