British
Painter of Still-life, flowers, portraiture, figure and landscape compositions: usual media being oils on canvas or hardboard. He was trained at Kingston School of Art 1949-50, and the RCA 1951-4, where he won the Abbey Minor Scholarship, the Italian Government Scholarship and RCA Minor Travelling Scholarship. In 1953 he married the artist Jean Cooke.

He had his first one-man show at the Beaux Arts Gallery in 1954. He was one of the realist painters of what was known as the 'Kitchen Sink School'. Later he exhibited at the Zwemmer Gallery. He usually exhibited at the R.A., but his official dealer was the Thackeray Gallery.

In 1955 he won a prize at the Daily Express 'Young Artists' exhibition, exhibited at the Venice Biennale and won a Guggenheim Award, jointly with Ben Nicholson, in 1958. He taught at Carlisle College of Art in 1956 and at the RCA 1957-8. In 1957 he received first prize in the Junior Section of the John Moores Liverpool Exhibition.

In 1957-8 he was commissioned to design the sets for the film 'The Horse's Mouth', and also undertook various murals such as 'Golgotha' at St Martin's Chapel, Lancaster (1965), and for the Frankfurt Finance House in 1969. He was elected ARA in 1959 and RA in 1971. He published 'Breakdown' in 1960 (which he illustrated), and other novels.

John Bratby is best known as a painter of his immediate surroundings. His technique was impulsive with use of thick paint and lively brush strokes; colour was strong but form was more significant with interest in linear rhythms and patterns. His later work became lighter in mood reflecting a new enjoyment in nature.

LIT:
Breakdown, John Bratby, 1960
Painters of Today: John Bratby', Alan Clutton-Brock.