TIMOTHY BETJEMAN

TIMOTHY BETJEMAN 
AT MARLBOROUGH

10 - 25 JUNE 

Monday - Saturday, 10AM - 6PM
Sunday, 12PM - 4PM

THE MOUNT HOUSE GALLERY
MARLBOROUGH COLLEGE
BATH ROAD SN8 1PA

“The chapel was the centre of my life-
The only place where I could be alone.”
John Betjeman, Summoned by Bells, 1960

Timothy Betjeman’s forthcoming exhibition is, like the quoted poem by his grandfather Sir John Betjeman, largely focused on the chapel at Marlborough College. Despite having not had the time to get to know each other well, Timothy has found a similar natural affinity with the place and this exhibition, which runs from 10-25 th June, marks the end of his year as artist in residence at the school.

The show will feature works completed in the chapel itself as well as plein-air paintings from in and around the college town. Painting in the chapel two to three days a week has allowed Betjeman to show the various guises of the historic building: quiet and shy at daybreak; well-lit and welcoming at dusk. The result is a study in light and in liturgy; the chapel as a meeting space, a place of worship and as part of a busy school. There are close ups of the altar, the vaulted ceiling and the stained glass windows, all rendered in a combination of dense impasto and light, gestural work—many paintings being scratched back into, to articulate ornamental detail. Architecture and atmosphere take equal part in the compositions, giving rise to an emotional interpretation of the space. 

Timothy Betjeman studied Fine Arts and Philosophy at the University of Chicago before going onto a postgraduate degree in drawing at the Royal Drawing School in London. He has exhibited widely in the UK and abroad, including the Lynn Painter Stainers Prize and the John Ruskin Prize. In 2016 he was awarded the Terra Foundation Fellowship for artists at Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny. His work is in the Royal Collection, the collection of Clare College Cambridge University, the Moritz-Heyman Foundation and numerous private collections.

Special thanks to Marlborough College staff and students for their support in the months leading up to this exhibition.

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