Biography

Jock McFadyen RA was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1950 and moved to England in 1966 at the age of 15. He studied at Chelsea School of Art from 1973 to 1977, gaining both his BA and MA.

Shows

His first solo show was held at the Acme Gallery, London, in 1978. Since then, he has staged more than 40 solo exhibitions, including at The National Gallery (residency show), Camden Arts Centre, the Imperial War Museum, Manchester Art Gallery, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Talbot Rice (Edinburgh Festival) and the Pier Art Centre (St Magnus Festival). His work has also featured in many mixed exhibitions in the UK and abroad, including John Moores, Hayward Annual and The British Art Show.

Residencies

In 1981 McFadyen was appointed Artist in Residence at the National Gallery, London. A decade later he was invited to design sets and costumes for Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s final ballet, The Judas Tree, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Honours

He was elected to the Royal Academy in 2012 and, in 2019, served as coordinator of the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. He became an Honorary Royal Scottish Academician in 2021.

70th Year

To mark his 70th birthday in 2020–21, four major exhibitions were presented: Jock McFadyen Goes to the Pictures (City Art Centre, Edinburgh), Jock McFadyen: Lost Boat Party (Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh), Jock McFadyen Goes to The Lowry: A Retrospective (The Lowry, Salford) and Jock McFadyen: Tourist without a Guidebook (Royal Academy, London).

Collections

McFadyen’s work is held in over 40 public collections, including the Tate, the National Gallery, the V&A, the British Museum and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, as well as in numerous corporate and private collections in the UK and abroad.

Today

He lives and works in London, Edinburgh and France.

Public Collections

• Amnesty International
• Arts Council of Great Britain
• Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
• BBC, London
• Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
• British Council, London
• British Museum, London
• City of Edinburgh
• Contemporary Art Society, London
• Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery
• Glasgow Art Galleries
• The Government Art Collection
• The Guildhall, London
• Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow
• Imperial War Museum, London
• Kunsthalle, Hamburg
• Leicester Education Authority
• Lillie Art Gallery, Glasgow
• Manchester Art Gallery
• Museum of London
• National Gallery, London
• Pier Arts Centre, Orkney
• Scottish Arts Council
• Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
• Sheffield City Art Gallery
• Tate, London
• Theatre Museum, London
• University of Dundee
• Victoria and Albert Museum, London
• The New Art Gallery Walsall
• Whitworth Gallery, Manchester
• Wolverhampton City Art Gallery
• Worcester Art Gallery
• Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Corporate Collections

• Clifford Chance
• Deutsche Bank
• Fleming Collection
• Prudential
• Many other private and corporate collections in the UK and abroad