British painter, printmaker. Worked in an abstract painterly style and resisted easy categorization. Escaped to New York with family to escape the blitz. Introduced to Modernist artists such as Picasso, Matisse and Stuart David during the war. Produced his first serious work in 1949 while studying at the Camberwell School of Art before moving on to the Bath Academy of Art in Corsham, Wiltshire in a bid to more freely express and experiment new ways of painting. Expressivity as an artist was only truly freed after divorcing his wife of twenty years and acknowledging his homosexuality. Late works, 1970s-onwards, is when his own personalized styles of work developed—gestural, vibrantly technicolored and brilliant. Became the second artist to win the Turner Prize in 1985. Enjoyed a number of well-received international retrospective exhibitions, some organized by the British Council.