Max Chapman (1911-1999)

Versatile artist, critic, illustrator and poet, born and lived in London. Chapman's mother, Berta Cregeen, and her two sisters were artists.  He attended Dulwich College and Byam Shaw School, 1927-30, where he was taught and befriended by the artist Charles Ricketts, who funded a scholarship to Italy, 1934, and "The European Grand Tour". This disturbed Chapman, who felt that instead he must adjust his art to modern trends. Although Chapman was a figurative artist who later returned to figuration, much of his work was abstract. Zdzislaw Ruszkowski, John Coplans and Jackson Pollock were influences. Collage Noyé was one of Chapman's innovations while experimenting with new media. He showed at RA, LG, RBA, and elsewhere and had solo exhibitions at  Storran, Leger, Molton, Leicester Galleries, Camden Arts Centre, New Vision Centre Gallery and in Paris and Zurich. In 1981 there was a selective retrospective at Middlesbrought Art Ga