Norman Adams RA

To commemorate the life and work of Norman Adams RA. Norman died on March 9th 2005 of Parkinson’s disease.

This site offers:
A biography of Norman Adams, click.
News about exhibitions and this
week-ends open studio click here.
To contact me, Benjamin Adams, or
purchase a copy of the book on Norman
Adams (£25) e-mail;
[email protected].
A virtual retrospective of Norman's
work click here

This site is to show the work of Norman Adams RA (1927-2005).
Norman Adams is one of the most undervalued British painter of the 20th century. While being influenced by, and influencing many other artists of his time, he was never part of any neatly packaged movement. He was not a loud character, and did not believe in advertising his work. He simply painted great paintings, and waited for people to beat a way to his door. Some people did and he was successful during his lifetime.
He also believed in the importance of teaching: He wanted to pass on the advantages he had been given by his time as a student in The Royal College of Art. He was head of painting in Manchester College of Art in the 1960’s, was Professor of Painting in Newcastle University and Keeper of the RA Schools.
In Marsh 2014 fire recently destroyed a lot of his work. Many oil paintings were in racks and many watercolours in a plan chest. His studio is in a very remote location and it was not till the fire was through the roof that it was noticed. I still find the destruction of my Adams’s work very emotional hard to believe.
The studio is being rebuilt as a gallery. I will try to keep this web-site up-to-date on the progress of the building work.
There is much of Norman's work in public places and collections (click to see pages). There is a set of paintings based on The Pilgrim’s Progress in St. Anselm’s Church, (See page on this site) Kennington and ‘Stations of the Cross’ at St Mary’s (also known as the Hidden Gem) in Mulberry Street, Manchester (Click to see website). These are all well worth a trip round England: The Stations of the Cross in Manchester have been known to reduce grown men to tears.
Oil paintings in public galleries can be seen on the BBC website, Your Paintings.