Artist profile

Another of our Royal Academicians and a former President, Phillip King was born in Tunisia in 1934. At the end of the Second World War, he arrived in England and studied modern languages at Cambridge University in the 1950s. It was while at university that he discovered sculpture and his growing interest led to him studying the art form at St Martin's School of Art from 1957 to 1958, where Anthony Caro was one of his teachers.

King went on to teach at St Martin's for a year before working as an assistant to Henry Moore. 1964 saw him take on his first of many solo exhibitions at the Rowan Gallery, to be followed by further solo shows in America during the 60s and appearances in several group exhibitions.
Over the years, he has established a reputation for working with a variety of materials, from fibreglass and metal through to wood and slate. Retrospective exhibitions of King’s work have been held at the Whitechapel Gallery, the Hayward Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and at Forte de Belvedere in Florence. King is the only English sculptor other than Moore to be honoured with a retrospective at Forte de Belvedere.

King's long teaching career has included stints at St Martin's School of Art, Hochschule der Kunste, Royal College of Art and at our own RA Schools.