John Blackburn

Born 1932 – Died 2022

Born in Luton, Blackburn studied at Thanet and Maidenhead Art Schools. After a period of National Service he spent seven years in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands where he developed his trademark idiom of indigo blue and black forms set against a white background. Blackburn was particularly interested in Tachism, Abstract Expressionism and the work of Francis Bacon. He studied these ideas in detail on his return to England in 1962. He divided his time between Kent, London and Cambridge and continued to paint into his final years. Ede acquired over twenty of his paintings in the early 1960s, having first seen his work at the Woodstock Gallery in London.