Norman Ackroyd (1938-2024) was one of the UK’s most respected printmakers, and perhaps the greatest etcher of his generation. A consummate technical master, he captured light, wind and water on paper with an extraordinary subtlety of tone.
Born in Leeds, his love of the elemental landscape was entrenched through a childhood exploring the Yorkshire Dales, cycling and fishing and trying to sketch light sparkling on water. An early talent for art was spotted at school, and he was awarded a scholarship to Leeds College of Art. In his early twenties, Ackroyd was accepted into the Royal College of Art, where he was instructed in etching by Julian Trevelyan, and where he made lifelong friends with Zandra Rhodes and David Hockney.
After a spell teaching, Ackroyd embarked on his career as a landscape artist, becoming elected as an associate of the Royal Academy in 1988, and a Royal Academician in 1991. Amongst numerous honours, he was made a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art in 2000 and was awarded the CBE in 2007.
Whilst he worked in a range of media, Ackroyd was most prolific in intaglio etching, working from his studio and home in a converted warehouse in Bermondsey, London. Drawn to wild and windswept outlying coastal margins, he loved to visit the rugged coast and islands of Ireland, the Outer Hebrides and the west coast of Scotland. Sketching on the spot, often from a small boat bobbing around on the swell, he captured the cliffs, foaming seas and wheeling gulls. Such experiences helped him imbue his work with extraordinary atmosphere - a sense of the sublime and the power and timelessness of these marginal places. Rarely does man appear in his work.
Ackroyd was fascinated by, and a master of the technical process of printmaking, and never lost his enthusiasm for the subject. Renowned for his generosity of spirit and knowledge, one of his last endeavours was to set up a foundation that will allow young artists to complete their education. His works are held in private and public collections around the world, in the likes of the Tate, Moma in New York, the Rijksmuseum and the Royal Collection.
There is a thriving market for Ackroyd’s works at auction, and his etchings regularly come up for sale at Tennants. A particularly impressive example, a large-scale depiction of the sea stacks off St Kilda the westernmost islands in the Outer Hebrides, will be going under the hammer at the end of February and is sure to attract eager collectors of Ackroyd’s work.
View St Kilda in Sunlight - Stac Lee by Norman Ackroyd, coming up on 28th February in the Modern & Contemporary Art Sale
