Robert Mountjoy
Robert W. Mountjoy SWAc (hon)
Robert Mountjoy was born in Bideford, North Devon in 1950 and attended the local grammar school. He trained at St Pauls, Cheltenham and Bristol University. He took up his first art teaching post in Cheltenham and subsequently taught in secondary, tertiary and higher education. In 1985 he returned to his native Devon and took up a teaching post in Plymouth.
He was a commited abstract artist, but the house and job move required a brief rest from painting; when he ‘returned to the easel’ he turned to figurative work, sometimes approaching realism. Subjects were drawn from a variety of sources and range from landscapes through portraits to still life. Simple forms in beams of strong light have provided inspiration for a long series of still life paintings..
In 2020 he began to explore abstract painting once again, drawing inspiration from sketches made during a visit to Andalucia in September 2019. This was followed by a series of paintings devloped from his drawings of the Arctic shoreline during a visit to Havoysund in 2021. His current project is based upon the working shoreline of Plymouth near his current home.
Robert Mountjoy is a member of the 21 Group of Artists and has been a fervant supporter of the South West Academy. He was elected an academician in 2003 and served twelve years as a trustee and three years chair. In 2021 he was made an Honorary Academician.
Exhibitions
- The Old Bakery Gallery, Cheltenham 1972
- Cheltenham Group, 1972 -1984
- Royal West of England Academy 1979 – 1984, 2002, 20014, 2015, 2016
- The Park Gallery, Cheltenham Museum and Art Gallery 1982
- Rooksmoor Gallery, Bristol 1983
- Delahaye Gallery, Cirencester 1984
- Mayflower Gallery, Tavistock 189
- Royal Society of Marine Artists 2005
- Royal Society of Painters in Watercolour, Mall Galleries London 2015, 2019
- Mall Galleries, Lynn Painter Stainer Award (shortlisted artists) 2005
- The Wharf , Tavistock 1996 and 2016
- South West Academy 2000 – 2024 (inc Academicians shows at: RAM Exeter, Phoenix Exeter, Stert’s Art Centre, Delamore Arts, Plymouth University, The Penwith Gallery and The Thelma Hulbert Gallery)
- Beaux Arts, Bath 2006 – 2009
- Tincleton Gallery, Dorset 2017
- Ariel Centre 2019
- Artizan 2022 and 2023
- Birdwood House Gallery, Totnes Finnmark Pen mark Paint mark – Paintings form the Arctic. 2022
- 21 Group Exhibitions at Plymouth Theatre Royal, Birdwood House Gallery and the Artmill Gallery 2021, 2022,2023 and 2024.
Publications
More Than a Bowl of Cherries – Still Life Painting by Robert Mountjoy 2006 – 2019, Crapstone Press, Second Edition 2022
Spanish Gaps – Paintings by Robert Mountjoy, Crapstone Press 2022
Finnmark Pen mark Paint mark – Paintings and Drawings by Robert Mountjoy, Crapstone Press 2022
Waterlines, Robert Mountjoy and Julia Faulkner – Paintings by Robert Mountjoy, Crapstone Press 2024.
Awards:
Royal Humane Society Testimonial 1968
Arts Council of Great Britain Award for Painting 1982
Mail Marketing International First Prize (for most outstanding work in a water-based medium) RWA 2002
Elected Academician – South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts 2001
Lynn Painter Stainer Award shortlist 2005
South West Academy – Honorary Academician 2021
Related
- February 6, 2024
