Biography
About the Artist
“I want the spectator to feel the person and not paint in an explicit way. It’s the opposite of didactic. I’m allowing the onlooker to become part of the painting. It’s an invisible language that can only be interpreted through an emotional response."
Binny Mathews has been at the forefront of British portrait painting for several decades. Born in Dorset into an artistic family (her uncle was Anthony Mathews, the artist and publisher, who collaborated with David Hockney in the 1960s and introduced Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein to the UK), she was painting from the age of three.
She studied at Farnham and, at the age of 21, was appointed Artist in Residence at Oakham School, where her students included Sacha Newley and Richard Smith, who went on to become a distinguished artist and textile designer respectively.
Moving to London, her portrait painting career took off and a huge range of sitters has included composer Donald Swann, Theo Fennell, jeweller, John Illsley, base guitarist of Dire Straits, the Hon. Raymond Seitz, US Ambassador to the UK and Dame Stella Rimington, first woman head of MI5.
Relocating back to Dorset with her family, she now paints across the UK and overseas.
She has exhibited in many of the great institutions of Britain, from the Royal Academy to the National Portrait Gallery and the Mall Galleries, and her work is held in many private collections ranging from Oxford University, the US Embassy in London, the National Trust and HM the King.