Valerie Thornton RE Valerie Thornton, 1990   Valerie Thornton in her studio at Chelsworth, Suffolk, working on the plate of Pharaoh and his Horsemen, Lucca, 1985   Biography 1931  Born 13th April, London 1936-40  Pupil at Elinor Birley's (wife of Sir Robert Birley) Primary School, Charterhouse 1940-43  Evacuated to Montreal, Canada with her two brothers and attended Montreal Girl's High School 1944  Back to England - two terms at Langford Grove (Herefordshire) 1944-48  West Heath School, Sevenoaks, Kent 1949-50  Started Art School training at the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting 1950-53  Regent Street Polytechnic under P F Millard - where she qualified 1952  Greatly attracted to the work of Winifred Nicholson and given one of her paintings as a 21st birthday present First started drawing architecture after visiting an exhibition of photographs of details on church buildings - this experience set her path for the next forty years. Equally significant was the film made by S W Hayter about the revolutionary work being done in his Atelier 17 workshop in Paris in etching Also started looking at the work of Stanley Spencer, Graham Sutherland and other English romantics of that period 1954  Spent eight months at Hayter's Atelier 17 in Paris On return from Paris immediately purchased her first etching press 1955  Early in this year spent six weeks in Italy (Rome, Assisi, Florence, Siena) studying and drawing 1955-56  Succeeded Howard Hodgkin as Assistant Art Teacher at Charterhouse School 1955-57  Two exhibitions at Walkers Galleries in New Bond Street with the Regent Street Group 1956-57  First visits to Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines's East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing at Benton End, Hadleigh with Rosemary Rutherford 1956-58  Invited to show by Michael Chase (whom ten years later she married) in his 'New Editions' original print exhibitions at the Zwemmer Gallery (with Edward Bawden, John Piper, Julian Trevelyan, Merlyn Evans, Bernard Cheese and others) 1957-60  Several trips to Paris with Rosemary Rutherford, the stained glass artist 1958-68  Prints published by Paul Cornwall-Jones of Editions Alecto 1959  Became a member of the Philadelphia Print Club, USA, at the suggestion of Nono Reinhold 1960  Invited by Bertha van Moschzisker to stage a one-man exhibition of etchings at the Philadelphia Print Club… this was the start of a longstanding connection with American institutions and patrons. Sold a quantity of work and was invited by the print dealer Robert Light to have an exhibition in New York in 1963 1963-64  Lived in New York for ten months and worked at the Pratt Graphic Art Center Workshop … sales of her work supported her and funded a month's trip to Mexico 1965  Visited Winifred Nicholson at her home in Cumbria … start of an enduring friendship A founder member and secretary of the newly created Printmakers' Council First one-man exhibition in the new print room at Zwemmer's Gallery (London) at the invitation fo Michael Chase 1966  Married Michael Chase and moved to the Minories in Colchester where Michael had been appointed Resident Curator in succession to Jack Wood Palmer 1969  Began a fruitful twenty year association with printmaker's agent Anthony Dawson Invited to be an Associate of the Royal Society of Painter/Etchers and Engravers 1970  Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Painters/Etchers and Engravers Spent two and a half months in the States with her husband visiting galleries and museums in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington and New Mexico Started regular exhibiting at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 1974  Retrospective survey of etchings, drawings and paintings organised and presented by her husband opening at the Minories in Colchester and touring to Lewes (Sussex), King's Lynn (Norfolk) and Guildford (Surrey) Appointed to the Engraving Faculty of the British School at Rome Moved to Chelsworth, West Suffolk when her husband Michael resigned executive role at The Minories, Colchester 1975-85  Regular summer working trips to Spain, France and Italy in search of the Romanesque and material for her etchings 1988  Working visit to Greece. Portrait commission - Ruth Rudge, Head, West Heath 1989  Visit to Moscow and Leningrad in connection with RE Exhibition in Moscow 1990  First exhibition at the Albemarle Gallery, London Interview on Third Ear, BBC Radio 3, with Dr Judith Collins of the Tate Gallery 1991  Appointed artist-in-residence, Lichfield Festival Died, Chelsworth, Suffolk Solo Exhibitions 1960  The Minories, Colchester 1961  Bear Lane Gallery, Oxford Print Club, Philadelphia 1965  Zwemmer Gallery, London (also 1970, 1981, 1982 and 1984) 1973  Old Fire Engine House, Ely 1974  The Minories, Colchester Patterns of Stone and Brick - a retrospective touring exhibition 1975  Oxford Gallery, Oxford (also 1981) 1976  Bruton Gallery, Bruton 1977  Touring exhibition: Faces of Stone 1980  Gilbert Parr Gallery, London 1982  Touring exhibition: Faces of Stone II 1985  Touring exhibition: Two Journeys with Michael Chase 1990  Albemarle Gallery, London 1992  The Redfern Gallery, London, a retrospective 2004  The Redfern Gallery, London - Prints and Drawings Collections British Museum, London Department of the Environment, London Tate Gallery, London Victoria and Albert Museum, London Ashmolean Museum, Oxford Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery Bolton Museum and Art Gallery Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield Manchester City Art Gallery Southampton Art Gallery Usher Gallery, Lincoln Albertina Museum, Vienna Bibliotheque Royale, Brussels Museum of Fine Art, Montreal National Gallery, Ottawa Artothek, Dortmund Stadtbibliothek, Essen Stadtbibliothek, Remscheid Stadtbucherei, Stuttgart Wilhelm Lehmsbruck Museum, Duisburg Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam Baltimore Museum Library of Congress, USA Metropolitan Museum, New York Museum of Fine Art, Boston Museum of Fine Art, Cleveland Museum of Modern Art, New York New York Public Library
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