Bryan Kneale originally studied painting at Douglas School of Art in 1947 and then at the Royal Academy Schools, London from 1948 to 1952 where he received a Rome Scholarship in painting (1949-51). In 1960 he moved from painting to sculpting and in 1968 was Head of Sculpture at Hornsey College of Art and Design. Most of his subsequent teaching career was spent at the Royal College of Art, London, where he was Tutor (1963-1980) and Senior Tutor (1980-85), Head of Sculpture (1985-90) and Professor of Drawing (1990-95). He was also Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools from 1980 to 1987.
Kneale’s first solo show with paintings was in 1954 with the Redfern Gallery, London. He continued to exhibit there regularly until 1986. Other solo shows include a retrospective of his work at the Whitechapel Art Gallery (1966), the Serpentine Gallery, London (1978), and further retrospectives at the Henry Moore Gallery, Royal College of Art, London (1986), Royal West of England Academy (1995), and a drawing retrospective at the Natural History Museum (1991). Kneale has participated in many group shows, both in the UK and Europe. These include Sculpture International, Battersea Park, London (1963-1966), British Sculpture in the 60s, Tate Gallery, London (1966), New Art, Hayward Gallery 1975 and Chelsea Harbour Sculpture Show (1993). Kneale also curated and exhibited in British Sculptors, Royal Academy of Arts (1972) and Jubilee Exhibition of British Sculpture, Battersea Park (1977).
Kneale won the Leverhulme Prize in 1952, the Daily Express Young Painters’ Prize in 1955 and received an Arts Council Purchase Award in 1969. He was elected Royal Academician in 1974 (ARA 1970) and is a Trustee of the Royal Academy of Arts and a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art. Kneale lives and works in London.
Born: 1930 in Douglas, Isle of Man, United Kingdom
Nationality: British
RA Schools student from 18 March 1948 to 31 March 1953
Elected ARA: 23 April 1970
Elected RA: 12 February 1974
Elected Senior RA: 1 October 2005
Teaching: Master of the Sculpture School 1982-1985
Professor of Sculpture: 1985 - 1989
Gender: Male
Preferred media: Sculpture
Bryan Kneale RA
Sitting, 1996
Conté crayon on paper
Bryan Kneale RA
Matrix, 1975
Steel painted with hammerite & bronze
Bryan Kneale RA
Life drawing of a standing male model viewed from the front, 1948
Pen and brown ink over pencil on paper
Bryan Kneale RA
Life drawing of a standing male model viewed from the front, 1948
Pen and brown ink over pencil on paper
Bryan Kneale RA
Life drawing of a seated male model viewed from the side, 1948
Pen and black ink on orange/red toned paper
Bryan Kneale RA
Life drawing of a seated woman viewed from the back , 1948
Pen and red ink over pencil on paper
Bryan Kneale RA
2018 A Brimful of Grace, Pangolin, London
2015 Five Decades, Pangolin, London
2012 Hart Gallery, London
2011 Royal Academy of Arts, London
Beaux Arts, London
2009 Royal British Society of Sculptors, London
Hart Gallery, London
2007 Hart Gallery, London
2005 Cass Sculpture Foundation, London
2004 Hart Gallery, London
2000 70th Birthday Exhibition, Roche Court, Salisbury
The Eye of the Storm, Mandria Park, Turin
Bronze, British Contemporary Sculpture, Holland Park
1995 Retrospective, Royal West of England Academy
1991 Drawing Retrospective, Natural History Museum
1990 New Art Centre, Salisbury
1987 Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
1986 Retrospective, Henry Moore Gallery, Royal College of Art
1981 Taranman Gallery, London
Arts Council of Great Britain
Beaverbrook Foundation, Frederickton
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
British Museum, London
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Glasgow City Gallery
Government Art Collection
The Hepworth, Wakefield
Manchester Art Gallery
Manx Museum, Douglas
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum of Modern Art, São Paulo
National Galleries of Victoria, Southern Australia
National Gallery of New Zealand
Natural History Museum
Nottingham City Art Gallery
Tate Collection, London
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
York City Art Gallery
1999 Sculpture for Westminster Cathedral
1998 Sculpture for Westminster Cathedral
1997 Bronze Doors for Portsmouth Cathedral
1996 Sculpture for Manx Government Building
1994 Sculpture for Perse School, Cambridge
1979 Monumental Sculpture, Manx Millennium
1972 Sculpture for King Edwards School, Totnes
1965 Sculpture for Camberwell Library
1962 Sculpture for LCC, Fenwick Place, Lambeth
1955 Daily Express Young Painters’ Prize
1952 Leverhulme Prize