Michael Horsley

Michael has been making new editions of lithographs at Curwen near Cambridge, with Stanley Jones. Stanley taught Michael when he was at the Slade.
Michael has also been working at Jarrolds Print Museum on an old press there.

Artists statement

I have been making these lithographs at a print studio near Budapest, Hungary, since 1987 driving there several times a year from my home in Cromer.
These editions are small, between 6 and 20 prints each edition and the sizes vary between 1040mm by 720mm and 380mm by 280mm. The lithographs are printed in collaboration with the Hungarian master printer, Istvan Szabo who I have worked with for nearly 20 years. It is this long working relationship that makes going to Hungary such an indispensable part of the activity. The notoriously difficult Hungarian language now presents few barriers to the communication between myself, the artist, and Istvan, the craftsman printer. He understands just what I want to do and sometimes, it seems, before I do.
I drive to Hungary with studies for the lithographs, which I have prepared in my Cromer studio. Each lithograph can involve as many as 20 separate colour printings on a huge late 19th century press. It was built to make those wonderful turn of the century theatre and street posters that I so admire and have influenced my work. Many important artists such as Lautrec and Bonnard etc, working in Paris before the Great War, made their poster lithographs on such a machine.
Making these lithographs on stones in this way is a stubbornly slow process, far removed from digital age technology. As a natural Luddite I'm very happy with this situation and see it as way of swimming against the tide, which I understand to be one of the things an artist is about anyway.


C.V.


BORN Somercotes, Derbyshire, England, 10th May 1941

EDUCATION
1957-61 Studied painting, Derby College of Art.
1963-64 Liverpool University, Art Teacher’s Degree.
1964-67 Slade School of Fine Art, University of London.

ONE MAN EXHIBITIONS
1973 Goldsmiths College. University of London.
1975 University of Wisconsin, USA.
1976 Derby Museum and Art Gallery.
1976 New Art Centre Gallery, London.
1979 Greenwich Theatre Gallery, London.
1982 ACT Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
1985 London Docklands Development Corporation Gallery, London.
1987 Feszek Gallery, Budapest.
1988 Painting of the month with related studies, Szepmuveszeti Museum, Budapest.
1989 Budapest Galeria.
1991 Feszek Gallery, Budapest.
1991 National Museum of Wales, Turner House Gallery.
1992 Pandora Gallery, Budapest. European Serviced Offices, Budapest.
1993 Eri Gallery, Budapest.
1994 Eri Gallery, Budapest.
1998 Richford Gallery, Norfolk, England.
2000 Regents Park College Gallery, London.
2006 New Museum of Contemporary Art, Norwich
2008 The Cut, Halesworth, Suffolk

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITONS
1964 Hope Street Gallery, Liverpool.
1970 Ravenscroft Studio Exhibition, London.
1979 John Moores Liverpool Exhibition.
1980 New Art Centre, London, Gallery Artists.
1981 Linden Gallery, New York, USA.
1987 Alpine Gallery, London, Artists from Budapest.
1989 British Council, “11 Artists Working in Budapest”.
1991 13th Budapest Art Expo, Hungarian Print Biannale.
1992 Feszek Gallery, Budapest. Arthur Anderson Consulting, Budapest.
1993 Graphic Biennale, Ljubljana, Slovenia, (Hungarian Representative).
Eri Gallery, Gallery Artists in Bucharest, Romania. Hungarian Print Biennale.
2nd Budapest Art Expo. Frankfurt Art Fair. Eri Gallery.
1994 Feszek Gallery, Budapest, Lithographs. Eri Gallery Artists, Budapest Art Fair.
1995 Hungarian Print Biennale. Feszek Gallery, Budapest, Lithographs.
British Embassy, Budapest. "11 Artists who make lithographs in Hungary”.
Printmaker’s Council Open Exhibition, London.
1996 National Print Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London.
Vigado Gallery, Budapest “Works on Paper”.
1998 Hungarian Print Biennale.
2001,2002,2003 Eastern Open, Kings Lynn, Norfolk (2003 Printmaking Prize).
2004 Gerbeaud Harmincad Gallery, Budapest "Hommage a l’art Graphique”.
2005 Norwich Castle, landscape 200

WORKS IN THE FOLLOWING PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Leicester Education. Derby Museum and Art Gallery. Arts Council of Great Britain.
London University. Szepmuveszeti Museum, Budapest. National Gallery, Budapest.