John Booth

John Booth was for twenty-two years, Drawing Master and Head of Art at Eton College. During that time he built a very successful department of specialist art teachers. Under John's direction a building programme was completed which made the drawing schools at Eton the largest art department in any secondary school in the country.

John has pursued his career as an artist and indeed, he saw his own work as a painter as being integral to his teaching and the influence he had on his students. Many of his former students, perhaps inspired by his example, are practicing painters. He often worked along side his pupils and ever year he took a group of young artists to Casa Guidi, Eton's apartment in Florence.

He has regularly had one man exhibitions of his work and had a large and successful one man show at the CCA Gallery in Albemarle Street in July 2003. He has exhibited in group shows including the RBA and the Royal Academy. John has work in public and private collections in this country and abroad

As an artist John Booth works in a variety of media. He draws with pen and ink and sometimes uses wash. He paints mainly in acrylic and watercolour. He uses a limited colour range of largely earth colours. His acrylics, as his watercolours are built up with a series of colour washes. He paints almost entirely on the spot and rarely makes changes back in the studio. He aims to capture something of a sense of place in his work and travels in search of subject matter. Even so he has spent most summers in Italy which he has found a wonderful source of inspiration.