Artist Info
Marc Vaux
Vaux attended the Commonwealth Grammar School in Swindon and, following two years of national service, entered the Swindon School of Art in 1955. He moved to London to study at the Slade School of Fine Art (1957-60). He studied under William Coldstream with Ceri Richards, Keith Vaughan and Tess Jaray. Vaux was awarded a Boise travelling scholarship which he used to travel around Italy and then to Paris, where he worked at the Jean Pons' lithographic printing studio and was influenced by School of Paris paintings.
Vaux first came to prominence in 1960, when his work was included in the landmark exhibition 'Situation' exhibition held at the RBA Galleries, London.
Since then Vaux has continually developed his non-figurative painting style, exploring a range of different media from drawing and painting to three-dimensional reliefs and sculpture. Vaux's first commercial exhibition was at the Grabowski Gallery, London, in 1963 with his then-wife Tess Jaray, photographed by Lord Snowdon. He was subsequently represented by the Axiom Gallery, Anderson O'Day and the Redfern Gallery.
In 1986, after a long teaching career as Principal Lecturer in Painting, Vaux was appointed Head of Painting at the Central School of Art and Design (London Institute) where he stayed until retiring from teaching in 1989 to concentrate on painting.
The artist was nominated for the Jerwood Painting Prize in 2003.
In 2005, a monograph was published on Marc Vaux, written by Vaux's long-term supporter Norbert Lynton. The Tate holds a strong collection of Vaux's work from 1959 to the present day, with his work held in other public collections such as Arts Council of Great Britain, Victoria and Albert Museum, British Library, City Art Gallery, Leeds, York Art Gallery, Sheffield Museum, and Folkwang Museum, Essen, Germany.
