Artist profile

Bill Jacklin RA initially trained as a graphic artist at Walthamstow School of Art from 1960 to 1961 before studying painting at the Royal College of Art from 1964 to 1967.  Between 1967 and 1975, Jacklin taught at Chelsea School of Art, Hornsey and Royal Colleges of Art and at schools in Kent and Surrey.

Jacklin was awarded an Arts Council Bursary in 1975, the year that marked his first two solo exhibitions at the Upper Gallery and at Nigel Greenwood Inc., London. His work continued to be exhibited in solo shows throughout the 1970s and 1980s with Marlborough Fine Art, London and Marlborough Gallery, New York. He also participated in numerous group exhibitions internationally from the early 1970s. Jacklin has undertaken many commissions, notably from the Bank of England, the Ivy Restaurant, De Beers and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority for the North Terminal of Washington National Airport.

In 1985 Jacklin moved to New York and the city has since become his home and the inspiration for much of his work. Jacklin began painting 'Urban Portraits' which captured the rhythm of life in and around New York; from the bustling crowds of Grand Central Station to elegant skaters in Central Park.

Jacklin was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1991. In 2016, the RA held the first ever retrospective of his graphic work and published Bill Jacklin: Graphics, a comprehensive monograph accompanying the exhibition. 

Photo: Chris Cramer