Michael Whittlesea NEAC RWS (b. 1938)

          Michael Whittlesea is an accomplished British painter and illustrator known for his fluid representation of figures, landscapes, and still-lifes in oils, watercolours, and charcoal. He was born in London and trained at the Harrow School of Art. He initially established a successful career as an illustrator during the 1960s and 70s. He created book covers for Heinemann, Newnes, Young World, Macdonald, and Oxford University Press, and contributed artwork to magazines such as World of Wonder and Speed and Power, including science-fiction themed works for Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov stories in the mid 1970s.

Whittlesea’s fine art career intensified in the mid-1980s. In 1985 he made his debut at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, was elected to the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolour (RWS) and the New English Art Club (NEAC), and won a Painter-Stainers London livery company award, all in the same year. In 1989 he was, NEAC president, Ken Howard’s “Artist of Choice” at the Arts Club, Dover Street, and in 1991 was, another NEAC president, Tom Coates’ "Choice" at the Mall Galleries for the NEAC annual exhibition. He was also a prize-winner at the 1991 Singer/Friedland/Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition. In 2002 he was again awarded at the NEAC, this time with the Jans Ondaatje Rolls Award for Drawing. 

Whittlesea’s artistic style is defined by a thoughtful blend of traditional technique, intuitive spontaneity, and narrative openness, shaped strongly by his early illustration career and his later fine‑art practice. He paints predominantly in oil and watercolour, and draws in pastel and charcoal, on canvas or high-quality paper. He maintains a conventional working method, often progressing several paintings simultaneously and returning to earlier drawings, sometimes years later, to inform finished works. 

Whittlesea has described the difficulties and unpredictability he feels when starting a new painting, as he prefers to start a work with no predetermined vision, allowing it to evolve organically. This acceptance of uncertainty gives his work a fresh, exploratory character, where intuition and chance play essential roles. His early career as a book‑cover illustrator and magazine artist enabled him to develop a strong storytelling instinct which often finds subtle expression in his fine art depictions of figures, still-lifes, landscapes and maritime scenes.

Stylistically he is equally open and fluid, eschewing the crafting of a singular recognisable personal “style,” in favour of an adaptive method that allows each piece to develop its own aesthetic language. This openness enables him move across genres - landscape, portrait, still life - without constraints. However, beneath Whittlesea's laissez-faire approach to painting exists a solid foundation in draughtsmanship, honed throughout his career as a commercial artist, and recognised throughout his career by his peers.