(1937 - 2022)
Born in Clapham, Tom Phillips works as a painter, illustrator, printmaker, writer, curator, theatre set designer and composer. After reading English literature at Oxford University (1957–60), he studied Fine Art at Camberwell School of Art, London, and later taught in art schools in Bath, Ipswich and Wolverhampton. He was appointed Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford in 2005. Notable events in his career include the exhibition of his ongoing literary-based work, ‘The Humument’ at the ICA, London in 1973; his curatorship of the ‘Africa: Art of a Continent’ exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1995; and the retrospectives of his work at the Dulwich Picture and South London Galleries in 1997. Phillips was made a Commander of the British Empire for services to the Arts in 2002, marking the recognition of his life-long commitment to visual culture.
