Bert Isaac

Bert was born on 23/2/1923 in Cardiff and grew up in Church Village. He died at the age of 83 on 21/3/2006 in Abergavenny/Gwent. After attending Pontypridd Grammar School, he studied art from 1940 to 1944 at Cardiff College of Art where he was associated with Evan Charlton and Ceri Richards. At the age of 19 he had his first exhibition at the National Museum of Wales. In later years he made an important contribution to art education in England. He had his studio at the Hill Court Gallery in Abergavenny.

Bert Isaac was a painter and a print maker. His shimmering landscape images embody memory, imagination and form, rather than any realistic view. They are seldom topographical because he places himself, so to say, within the landscape rather than before it. His prints and etchings speak for themselves and do not require explanations or descriptions. They cannot date or record a particular style. They appeal to the eye and the mind because they are beautiful. In the artist's personal view "You learn about print making, not from technical books but by knowing what artists are doing". In any case, he does not believe in some of the divisions in art such as the hard distinction between painter and printmaker. In his words printmaking is part of the total process of being an artist.

His own views are captured succinctly in one short statement: "It is a nonsense to make a picture just a view ahead. One hopes to capture noise and sensation, and essence - a total response".

Teaching Experience: Head of Art Dept. Borough Road College of Higher Education; Head of Art Dept. Battersea College of Higher Education; his distinguished & influencial teaching career culminated with his appointment as Head of Art at the London Institute of Education.

Awards: numerous (e.g. 1979: elected Honorary Artist-Member of the Royal Cambrian Academy; 1989: Gold Medal winner at the National Eisteddfod of Wales; 1999: MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to education)

Commissions: numerous.

International Links:
public collections abroad: Urawa City Gallery of Modern Art Japan

exhibitions abroad: 1990-92 International Miniprint Spain (mixed); 1997 'Contemporary Welsh Paintings' Strasbourg (mixed); 1999 in Belgium (solo); 2001/2 'Out of Wales' Libramont Belgium (mixed);