Basil Beattie

Basil Beattie has remained part of a milieu of British artists whose works continue the legacy of Abstract Expressionism. Beattie was a pioneer of a new approach to painting in post-war Britain, having been significantly influenced by The New American Painting show at the Tate in 1959, in particular the works of Rothko and De Kooning. These formative elements would persuade and mould the parameters of Beattie’s work in the 1960s and early ‘70s, but it was not long before he abandoned a purely formal approach and developed his own style of abstract painting.