'Cruisomatic (1972 line etching on zinc)'
71.1 x 104.0cm

To mark the 40th anniversary of the day that William Tillyer walked into Bernard Jacobson's newly opened print gallery in Mount Street, Mayfair, carrying a portfolio of his etchings - a meeting of historic importance to the two young men- the Bernard Jacobson Gallery has announced a four part exhibition season devoted to the work of "one of the most consistently challenging British artists of recent history." Bernard Jacobson Gallery

February Prints

The first show will look at Tillyer's extensive print output. Although his degree was in painting, he was also lucky enough to study etching under Anthony Gross at the Slade and in 1963 won a scholarship to apprentice at Stanley William Hayter's world famous Atelier 17 in Paris. Since that point, printmaking has always played a significant role in Tillyer's practice, both informing and feeding from his work in other media. Relentlessly innovative, his print work covers the gamut of techniques from etching to digitally manipulated imagery.

March - Retrospective

From the uncompromising , non-referential, proto-conceptualist works of the 60's to the rich organic distillations of the late 80's or the audacious theatricality of his most recent works, Tillyer has constantly defied categorisation. The show will highlight the range of his output while also illuminating the fundamental consistency of purpose that underpins this - his unceasing fascination with the physical world, his firmly held belief in the interconnectivity of opposing forces and his investigations into the nature of the 'art object' and it's role in the world.

April - Watercolours

A survey of 40 years work in that  most English of art forms - the watercolour, will demonstrate that Tillyer has placed it firmly in the world of contemporary art as it was for Constable and Turner.

May - New Work

The final show will be the first glimpse of the Tillyer's latest body of work. The series sees him return to his recurrent theme, the English Landscape. The work will reveal an artist continuing to explore new solutions to the investigations that have occupied him for more that half a century. 

Coming as it does at the end of the season of exhibitions, this first look at Tillyer's new work  will complete the Bernard Jacobson galleries a portrait of the artist  "whose relentless innovations and enduring commitment are singular, inspirational and ongoing." Bernard Jaconbson Gallery