HOUSE, Gordon

Gordon House   (British 1932 – 2004)

Gordon House, print maker, painter, typographer, teacher and designer,  spent his earliest years in the steel town of Pontardawe, South Wales. After leaving school at 14, he went to study at Luton School of Art and with the aid of a scholarship, he continued his studies at St Albans School of Art.
Gordon joined a small advertising studio in Letchworth as a graphic designer. Between 1952 and 1959, he designed for ICI and, from 1959 and 1961, for the Kynoch Press. He began teaching part time at Central School of Arts, St Albans and Hornsey Schools of Art and Luton College of Technology, whilst he pursued his own artistic career. His first solo show began in 1959 at New Vision Centre Gallery . House also exhibited at the ‘Situation British Painting Show’ at RBA Galleries, 1960 in which he had designed the catalogue for the exhibition and ‘New London Situation’ at Marlborough New London Galleries in 1961. By 1961, Gordon had become established among a new generation of artists as an independently minded and adventurous painter and designer.
As the 1960s moved on, Gordon designed for the pop world. He worked for the Beatles, designing their White album and the back of the Sergeant Pepper album, his long-time friend Peter Blake, designed the front. He responded to the talents of musicians and artists alike.

By the 1980s, Wales had become his constant subject matter. The surface, texture and colour of his paintings softened; His canvasses reduced in size, becoming palm-of-the-hand landscapes. He spent much time in Wales in his final years through memories of collieries, valleys, smoking stacks, rows of cottages.
In 1993, his work was selected for ‘The Sixties Art Scene in London’ at the Barbican Art Gallery in 1993. His work can be found in many large collections such as the Arts Council, British Council, Victorian and Albert Museum and many others.

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