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Robert Tavener was born in Hampstead, London in 1920. He was keen on art from a young age, always drawing in chalk on the pavements. On leaving school he initially went into office work until in 1940, when aged 20, he joined the Royal Artillery.
Robert Tavener completed 6 years war service and was part of the D Day landings at Arromanches, Normandy.
At the end of the war Tavener was given the opportunity to study art with the foundation college of the Rhine Army in the art and design faculty of Gottingen University. There he studied drawing and painting from June 1945 to February 1946. He attended Hornsey College of Art from 1946 until 1950. He graduated with the National Diploma in Design, specialising in lithography.
In 1953 Tavener and his wife moved to Eastbourne in Sussex where he became head of printmaking at Eastbourne College of Art and Design. He was later to become vice principal, leaving only when he retired in 1980.
At Eastbourne Robert Tavener created a highly respected printmaking department. His talent as a teacher was recognised more widely and he was invited to teach at St Martins School of Art in London for one day a week, which he did for several years.
Throughout this time Robert Tavener continued to produce his own work as both an illustrator and printmaker. He produced many illustrations for children?s books as well as gaining commissions from organisations such as London Transport, Shell, the BBC, the Radio Times and others. In 1958 he was invited to illustrate the diary for the Kynoch Press, following in the footsteps of the highly influential artist, Eric Ravilious, also from Eastbourne.
Robert Tavener held many one man shows and successfully sold his work over the years. His work was accepted for 34 years in succession at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. He was a senior fellow of the Royal Society of Painter/Printmakers where he exhibited in 30 shows. His work is held in more than 25 public collections in the UK alone, including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Government Art Collection.
He worked in a wide range of printmaking techniques including linocut, woodcut and lithography. He carried out each stage of the printmaking process himself; each print is unique. At his studio he used a fine, large Albion press cast by Harrild and Sons of Fleet Street some 100 years ago. His prints were limited to editions of between 15 and 75.
Of his printmaking he wrote in 1975:
"In the diverse and complex world of artists' prints, I have tried to keep three or perhaps four qualities paramount. These are design, colour, draughtsmanship, together with an awareness of the disciplines of autographic printmaking. A lithograph should not be a reproduction of anything else, but must exemplify the textures and qualities inherent in stone and plate; a block print should demonstrate by its "cutty" qualities the resistance of wood and lino to the gouge, the knife and the graver. It should not imitate drawing or painting, and the printed image is the Original"
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