Brian Fielding (1933-1987)

Brian Fielding was a member of the young generation of post-war British painters who took their influences equally from their slightly older contemporaries - the 'Middle Generation' of artists such as Heron, Hilton and Scott, who had given British abstraction a new international profile - and the New York School of Abstract Expressionism, which had first been shown in London in 1956.

Fielding studied at the Royal College of Art from 1954-57 at the time it was transforming itself into the epicentre of the new London scene. He had his first solo show in 1962 at the renowned Rowan Gallery and exhibited there and in the North during the 1960s. However, Fielding's restlessness and insistence on experimenting with form and style did not mesh well with building a gallery profile. Ever indifferent to seeking recognition, Fielding only showed his work occasionally in 70s and 80s, at institutional and foreign galleries, while supporting his painting through teaching at a number of art schools in London.

A major retrospective was held at the Mappin Art Gallery, in his home town of Sheffield, in 1986, travelling the following year to Cleveland Art Gallery, Middlesborough, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, and the Winchester Gallery.