Sir Howard Hodgkin

Painter, born in London, UK. He trained chiefly at Bath Academy of Art, where he later taught (1956–66). His highly personal style has not followed any of the major art movements of recent decades: though at first sight apparently abstract, his paintings are in fact representational, usually of interiors with people captured at a particular moment in time. In 1985 he won the Turner Prize for contemporary British art. He was knighted in 1992 and made a Companion of Honour in 2002.

Sir Gordon Howard Eliot Hodgkin (born August 6, 1932) is a British painter and printmaker.

Howard Hodgkin was educated at Bryanston School in Dorset.

Hodgkin's paintings often seek to convey memories of encounters with friends and frequently carry titles alluding to specific places and events such as Dinner at West Hill (1966) and Goodbye to the Bay of Naples (1980–82). Hodgkin himself has said that he paints "representational pictures of emotional situations".

His prints are hand-painted etchings and he has worked with the same master printer (Jack Shirreff at 107 Workshop)and print publisher (Alan Cristea Gallery)for the last 25 years.

Despite their apparent spontaneity and usually small scale, many of Hodgkin's paintings take years to complete, with him returning to a work after a wait and then changing it or adding to it. A number of his works not shown in frames are surrounded by rectangles of simple colour.

In 1984, Hodgkin represented Britain at the Venice Biennale, in 1985 he won the Turner Prize, and in 1992 he was knighted. A major exhibition of his work was held at Tate Britain, London, in 2006.

Hodgkin is combative in interviews and often denies ideas that he has expressed himself.