About

 

Peter Monkman is an award-winning figurative artist whose career is a testament to a deep, lifelong exploration of identity, perception, and the nature of appearance. A critical milestone in his journey came in 2009 when he won the prestigious BP Portrait Award, arguably the world's most significant prize for contemporary portraiture. His winning painting, The Changeling, was the first in a seminal series that has become the conceptual core of his work. This project began as a deeply personal exploration, depicting the artist's own children and confronting the complex, unsettling transitions of youth and the inner lives that lie beyond a mere likeness. A veteran of the UK art scene, Monkman’s work is deeply informed by both historical and contemporary movements. He was liberated by the raw energy of the punk movement growing up in County Durham and absorbed the freedom of Scandinavian expression from artists like Asger Jorn and Karel Appel. His professional life as the Director of Art at Charterhouse for two decades (2004-2024) further enriched his practice, exposing him to a diverse range of artistic traditions and new trends. He is a member of respected professional collectives such as the Contemporary British Portrait Painters (CBPP), which attests to his standing among his peers. After a distinguished career in the South of England, Peter Monkman has embarked on an exciting new chapter, relocating to York, North Yorkshire, where he now lives and works as a full-time artist. From his new Northern studio, he continues to develop his practice, layering carefully observed portraits with spontaneous mark-making and glazes to create a rich dialogue between form and meaning. His work, now infused with the spirit of his new home, is a unique synthesis of his decades-long career and his continued creative evolution.

 

 

 

 

Education

 

Monkman was born in Gloucester and brought up in County Durham and has practiced and taught Art for 37 years. He was Director of Art at Charterhouse from 2004 - 2024 and is a member of collectives such as CBPP (Contemporary British Portrait Painters) and more recently Common Ground group of artists.

Over the years Monkman has worked in  Surrey, Lancashire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and currently lives and works as a full time artist in York, North Yorkshire UK. 

 

1992-4 MA Art and Design, University College London

 

1986–7 Art and Design PGCE John Moores Liverpool

 

1982-5 BA (hons) Visual Arts University of Lancaster

 

 

 

Awards

 

2021  Ruth Borchard Portrait Award – Highly Commended – Longlist (also 2017 shortlist exhibition)

 

2013 Threadneedle Prize shortlist exhibition, Mall Galleries,London(& 2008, 2009)

 

2010 Celeste Award, video installation work, Dependency, 53^rd Venice Biennale

  

2009 BP Portrait Award National Portrait Gallery 1st prize (& 1999, 2001, 2003)

 

2007 Jerwood Drawing Prize shortlist exhibition, Jerwood space, London.

 

2001 Drawing Prize, Eastern Open, Kings Lynn Arts Centre, King Lynn

 

2000 Most Popular in Show, It’s Your Turn,   Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, UK

 

1999, 1995, 1994   1^st prize PEG Regional Open Peterborough Museum, UK

 

1996 2^nd  Prize, national photographic competition, Lauderdale House, London

 

 

 

Solo exhibitions 

 

 

2025  York Open Studio, Model Farm House York, UK

 

2024 . George Mallory  Godalming Museum , Surrey UK

 

2024.  George Mallory 100 years anniversary. Charterhouse , UK

 

2019  Head Girl Head Boy, Arts Fund Space, Lightbox, Woking, UK

 

2018  Reinvention; work from the Slade summer school,Charterhouse, UK

 

2015  Mallory Portraits, Library, Charterhouse UK

 

2013  Changeling; new work Cadogan Contemporary, London, UK

 

2009  Paintings, Drawings animations, Winchester College Angelus Gallery., UK

 

2008  Changing Face,  Watts Gallery Compton, Surrey, UK

 

2008 Changing Face 2, Wellington College UK

 

2008 New work, Lewis Elton Gallery University of Surrey UK

         

2006  Automatic Drawings, Studio Charterhouse, UK

 

2004  Private State, Studio Charterhouse,  Surrey, UK

 

2003  Face Value, Wrenn portrait project, GALLERY@ wrenn Northants, UK 

 

2002  Face Value, Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery, UK

 

2001  Channel Surfing King’s Lynn Arts Centre, UK

 

2001 Paintings and drawings Alsager Gallery Manchester Metropolitan Uni, UK

 

2000  Drawing on Time, Modern Art, Oxford, UK 

 

1998  Domestic Doodles Sackville Gallery, W1 London, UK

 

1996  Between Painting and Photography, Bromham Mill, Bedford, UK

 

 

 

Group exhibitions

 

 

2024 Summer Show , Blacksmithshop gallery, N Yorkshire, UK

 

2024, CBPP exhibition The Department Store, Brixton, London

 

2022, DELTA GAMMA  Contemporary Art, Academy,  Saatchi Gallery, London

 

2022, CBPP exhibition The Department store, Brixton, London  

 

2021, OCAS group show project space Bermondsey  London

 

2021  'Lockdown interviews' exhibition. The Cello Factory, Waterloo, London 

 

2021 Ruth Borchard Portrait Award, Longlist, online

 

2021 Portraits in Isolation, Old Fire Station, Oxford

 

2020 Perception with CBPP, Cass Arts space, Islington,London

 

2020 Portraits for National Health Service Heroes, Fitzrovia Chapel, London

 

2017 OCAS  project space Bermondsy, London

 

2017 Ruth Borchard Portrait Prize, Kings Place London.

 

2017 Behind the Mask charity display National Portrait Gallery London 

 

2016 Wells Contemporary International Open,  Wells  UK

 

2015 Let the Light In, Hay-on-Wye, philosophy and Music festival, uk

 

2015 OCAS group show, project space Bermondsey , London

 

2014 Gala mystery post cards and auction, National Portrait Gallery, London

 

2013  Threadneedle Prize, London (also 2009 and 2008)

 

2011 CHASE charity exhibition, RCA London

 

2011 Chelsea football club, Charity auction, UK

 

2011 XIV Interfebep Gallery Portreta, Bosnia Hercegovina

 

2011 Auction, Opera House Samara, Russia

 

2011 Royal Society of Portrait Painters annual show, Mall galleries

 

2010 Depentendency, sola della Certisa,Venice, 53rd Venice Biennale, Italy  

 

2010 MUV festival, Florence, Italy

 

2010 Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Show, Mall galleries, London

 

2010 Contemporary British Art, Millinery Works Gallery, London

 

2010 Uncanny likeness, OVADA , Oxford, UK

 

2009 Threadneadle Figurative Art Prize,  Mall Galleries London 

 

2009  BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London with tour to Portsmouth

 

2008 Threadneadle Figurative Art Prize  Mall Galleries London 

 

2007  Jerwood Drawing Prize  Jerwood Space, London with tour

 

2005  Singer Friedlander/ Sunday Times watercolour Competition, Mall, London  

 

2005 Save a baby auction, Dorchester, London

 

2005 Charterhouse at Panter & Hall,  Panter and Hall, Mayfair, London

 

2005 Ideal Home exhibition, Olympia, London

 

2004  Future Face, Science Museum,  London

         

2004  London art Fair (Face Value Series), Islington Design  Centre, London 

 

2004 Home Ideal (installation) Hotbath Gallery, Bath, UK

 

2003 BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery  with tour to Aberdeen 

 

2003 Singer Friedlander/Sunday Times water colour Mall Galleries London

 

2002 True Nature Phoenix Art Gallery, Brighton , UK

 

2002 Affordable Art fair, New York, USA

 

2002 Art on Paper, Royal College of Art  London 

 

2002 Art Crazy Nation (part of Alan Kane’s ‘To Let’ installation), MKG, Milton                    Keynes, UK

 

2002 Art Miami. Miami beach convention centre USA

 

2002 Glasgow Art Fair, Scotland

 

2002 Drawing on our Past, Angel Row Nottingham UK

 

2001 Eastern Open Kings Lynn Art Centre UK

 

2001 C21 Bank Side Gallery   London 

 

2001 5th Anniversary exhition: most successful artists, Will's Art Warehouse London

 

2001 BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery  with tour to Sheffield 

 

2000 Drawings for All Gainsborough's House  Sudbury UK 

 

2000 Disaster!  Gallery Fresh Greenwich London

 

2000 Its Your Turn Kettles Yard Cambridge UK

 

2000 Transfiguration Roadmenders Northampton  UK

 

2000 The Castle Art Centre Wellingborough Northant. UK

 

1999 Proud Gallery Auction Charing Cross  London

 

1999 Edingburgh Festival (Proud Gallery) Royal Common Wealth Institude

 

1999 Norwich Arts Centre photographic exhibition 

 

1999  BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London,  with tour

 

1998 Group show, Sackville Gallery, W1, London

 

1998 Summer exposure Proud Gallery  Charing Cross London

 

1998 National Photographic exhibition Lauderdale House Highgate London

 

1998 Open Onsite Gallery Northampton UK

 

 

 

Collections

           

National Portrait Gallery (Julia Donaldson portrait)

 

Gallery Portreta, Bosnia Hercegovina

 

Joe Lewis collection. commission 

 

George Weston collection  family commission 

 

Charterhouse School

 

Lancaster University

 

 

 

Interview with Rob Dunt for ArtTop10.com as part of artists in Lockdown