Artist Collections

Bernard Cheese

b.1925

Bernard Cheese, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, studied at the Royal College of Art where he trained under Edward Bawden and Edwin la Dell. He taught printmaking at St Martin's and Central Schools of Art and became Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths' College, London . In the 1950s he moved to Great Bardfield in Essex where he joined and enjoyed the support and friendship of a small nucleus of artists that included Michael Rothenstein, Edward and Richard Bawden, Walter Hoyle and George Chapman. He now lives and works near Colchester. His prints are held in many important collections: HM The Queen, Contemporary Art Society, Victoria and Albert Museum, MOMA New York, Towner Art Gallery and New York Public Library.

Cheese delights in the patterns to be found in the landscape, whether in the vineyards of Provence, on the hillsides of north Yorkshire, or the coves and inlets of the Pembrokeshire coastline. The four- and five-colour lithographs in the Collection were all printed by the artist in small editions. The School of Art owns 87 prints and 12 watercolours by Bernard Cheese, nearly two-thirds were purchased with the assistance of a Re:source/V&A Purchase Grant in January 2001 and the remainder were donated by the artist in June 2002 thereby creating the largest public collection of his work and representing over four decades in the career of this celebrated painter-printmaker.