Rackstraw downes biography of albert

British-born realist painter and author

Rackstraw Downes (born 1939) is a British-born realist painter and author.

Rackstraw downes biography of albert

His oil paintings are notable for their meticulous detail accumulated during months of plein-air sessions, depictions of industry and the environment, and elongated compositions with complex perspective.^[1]

Education

Born Rodney Harry Rackstraw Downes in Pembury, Kent, England, he moved to the United States and studied painting as an exchange student at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut from 1957 to 1958.^[2] He then returned to England and attended Cambridge University, where he was at St John's College and received a Bachelor of Arts in English literature.

Back in the United States, he studied at the Yale School of Art with Neil Welliver, Al Held and Alex Katz, and he received a Master of Fine Arts in painting in 1964. Originally an abstract painter, in 1966 Downes changed course and began working in the rea