Lighthouse

Location

Country: Other
City: other locations abroad

"Lighthouse" was commissioned from Michael Craig-Martin for the new British Embassy building in Moscow in 2001. The motifs included in the painting come from his repertoire of stock images. His idea to base this work around the central image of a torch was prompted by the tall round columns in the building in which the work is displayed. While his motifs are not always symbolic, the torch can be interpreted as alluding to the role of the embassy, and is complemented by the image of the globe. In addition to producing his own works of art, Michael Craig-Martin is recognised for his influential work as a teacher at Goldsmiths College in London.

A hugely influential figure in the art world, Michael Craig-Martin was born in Dublin, grew up in the United States, and has lived in Britain since 1966. Major retrospectives of his work have been held at the Whitechapel Art Gallery (1989), the Serpentine Gallery (2015), and the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2016). His exhibitions have included large-scale wall drawings in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and wall paintings at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. He is widely acknowledged for his influence as a teacher at Goldsmiths’ College in London, where he taught from the early 1970s and remains Professor Emeritus of Fine Art. Young British Artists’ Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas number among his former pupils. Craig-Martin was a Trustee of the Tate between 1989-1999 and was made a CBE in 2001.

Places

Subjects

book, globe, torch, lighthouse, cabinet, chair

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Michael Craig-Martin (1941 - )

Title

Lighthouse

Date

1999

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 524.50 cm, width: 193.50 cm

Acquisition

Commissioned from the artist, November 1999

Inscription

in pencil on verso: Michael Craig Martin 1999 "Lighthouse"

Provenance

Commissioned from the artist for the new British Embassy, Moscow, 1999

GAC number

17440