Sonia Lawson R.A
1950-1960s
Graduate and postgraduate studies at Royal College of Art. Travelling scholarship to France.
One of four young artists selected for John Schlesinger’s BBC TV Monitor documentary “Private View”.
Exhibitions
1960  Zwemmer Gallery, London 1963   New Arts Centre, London 1964   Queens Square Gallery, Leeds 1967   Trafford Gallery, London
1955- 1960
Selected Exhibitions
1960  London Group. 1960  Royal Academy of Arts,London.          Royal Watercolour Society 1962  Cheltenham Art Gallery:Six Young Painters 1963  Liverpool, John Moores 1964  Stratford-upon-Avon: Shakespeare Festival          Leeds City Art Gallery: “Round About London Galleries”
Biography
1970s-1980s
1982
Elected Royal Academician
1984
Elected to Royal Watercolour Society. Eastern Arts Drawing Prize. Rowney Drawing Prize. Commission— Imperial War Museum to record British Army of the Rhine  exercise “Operation Lionheart” Westphalia.Germany.
“Homage to my Friends”  (from Giotto to Janis Joplin),  Billingham and Middlesbrough Central Library, Bradford Open University, Milton Keynes Darlington Art Gallery Northern Artists’ Gallery, Harrogate “Shrines of Life”- retrospective touring to : Central Art Gallery, Milton Keynes, Mappin Gallery, Sheffield, Leicester Polytechnic, Cartwright Hall, Bradford, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull: (organiser Edna Read) West Yorkshire Arts Association, Kirklees
1973
1977
1979
1980
1982- 1983
1984
“Midnight Muse”, Manchester City Art Gallery Cartwright Hall, Bradford Boundary Gallery, London University of Birmingham Boundary Gallery, London Dean Clough Galleries, Halifax Retrospective (30 years)
1980s-1990s
1987
1989
1994
London, Trafford Gallery London, Royal Academy Jubilee: 25 Years of British Art Milton Keynes, Cranfield College. “Fragments Against Ruin”,Arts Council “The Subjective Eye”, Midland Group Arts Council London, Moira Kelly Fine Art London and Edinburgh, Fruit Market Hayward Annual. British Drawing (Eastern Arts/Tolly Cobbold 55-86  Touring Exhibition) New York, Britain Salutes New York. ‘8 in the 80s’ Moira Kelly Fine Art.  Green St. Soho First Prize “Drawing for All”   Gainsborough House, Eastern Arts Touring “Critics Choice”, Leeds City Art Gallery Bradford Central Library: “Collectors Choice”, London Group, R.C.A. Gallery Sheffield, Graves. “Frail Peace” Personal Visions on War London: Arthur Young Industrial Sponsors Exhibition
1970
1977
1978
1981- 1982
1983
1984
1985
Man and Wife C.1993. Charcoal and Watercolour on paper. Horseman in Snow Flurry. Oil on Canvas. C.1978. Collection Open University A Spring Journey through Holy Week. 1959. Collection Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery Trust Sonia Lawson in her studio in the 1980's Grieving Women c. 1991 Oil on Canvas 153x153cm
1990s-2000s
Boundary Gallery, London. NW8 Shire Hall, Stafford. Royal West of England Academy. Bristol. Retrospective Exhibition. Boundary Gallery. London Carlow Arts Festival. Eire. Vertigo Gallery. London Boundary Gallery. London University of Birmingham Boundary Gallery. London Aylesbury Museum & Gallery. Points of Departure Retrospective Wakefield City Art Gallery, West Yorkshire. Solo Exhibition Mercer Art Gallery: Paintings,  Passions and Alarms. Retrospective   
1998
1995
1996
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2008
Solo Exhibitions
Selected Exhibitions
Biography
Cover illustration. Women’s Lives into Print. Theory, Practise and Writing of Feminist Auto/Biography. Macmillan Press. Edited by Pauline Polkey Cover illustration. Ways of Returning. poems by Linda Saunders 2004 Arrowhead Honorary Royal West of England Academician Open University Lecture: Points of Departure
Lorne Scholarship: London University. Commissioned by Archbishop of Canterbury. Painting for Pope in celebration of ecumenical accord. Collection: Vatican Eastern Arts Drawing Prize. Commission:  Book illustrations to accompany Poems by James Kirkup, ‘Look at it this way’.  Rockingham Press. Commission: University of Birmingham 2 Works: Guardian I & II Commission:Drawings published in conjunction with Fay Weldon short story, ‘New Years Eve’. Clarion Publishing.
B.A.O.R. Exercises: 'Lionheart' Sept 1984 Westphalia. from sketchbook Heads. Cement Fondu c.1960 Lazurus. 1980. Oil on Canvas. 152cm x 184cm B.A.O.R. Exercises : Lionheart Sept 1984. Westphalia. from sketchbook 'Transport Workshop' Pilgrimage to the Ridings, Homage to my Family. Oil on Canvas 1982 153cmx 122cm
1986- 1987
1989
1990
1993
1994
1995
Leicestershire Invited Artists: Gainsborough House. “Drawing For All’ Eastern Arts Touring Leeds Polytechnic: “New Art in Yorkshire” London SW7. Royal College of Art.‘Exhibition Road’ Over 80 eminent painters who studied at the college celebrating the RCA’s 150th anniversary Edinburgh, Kingfisher Gallery John Moores, Liverpool Gallerie Zur Alten Deutschen Schule,Thun, Switzerland Boundary Gallery, London. NW8 Connaught Brown, London.W1 Lamont Gallery, London. E2 Mercury Gallery, London. W1 Royal Watercolour Society, London.
1986
1987
1988
1991- 1992
1993- 1999
1996- 1999
1997
2004- 2005
Boundary Gallery, London. NW8 Lamont Gallery, London. E2 Royal Watercolour Society, London. Discerning Eye.Mall Galleries, London. Nottingham University “ Representing Lives” Featured artist RWS London:Bankside Visual Wit. Royal Academy, London One Hundred Years: One hundred Works RWA 18th Sept- 28th October 2013 Mercer Art Gallery Harrogate Art and Yorkshire: From Turner to Hockney 12 April - 12 October 2014 Only Connect: Mixed Exhibition Royal Academy. London. Women of Vision  FRINK, BLOW, LAWSON RWA. Bristol 16 Dec 2017 - 11 March 2018. [LINK]
2001
St. Augustine Landing in England. Watercolour 1989 Lambeth Palace Commission presented to the Pope. 102cm x 91cm Guardian I Oil on Canvas 1994. Birminham University Commission. 152x124cm Guardian II Oil on Canvas 1994. Birminham University Commission. 152x124cm
Stratford-Upon- Avon: 2 paintings commissioned by Richard Buckle to mark the 4th centenary of Shakespeare’s birth.
2013
Biography: Exhibitions, commissions & awards
2017
2018
2015- 2016
2014
All images: copyright the estate of Sonia Lawson
CONTACT
Talking to Strangers, oil on canvas
Imperial War Museum Commission : Sketchbooks
Commission by Archbishop of Canterbury. Vatican Collection
Graduate and postgraduate studies at Royal College of Art. Travelling scholarship to France.
One of four young artists selected for John Schlesinger’s BBC TV Monitor documentary “Private View”.
1955- 1960
Sonia Lawson in her studio in the 1980's B.A.O.R. Exercises: 'Lionheart' Sept 1984 Westphalia. from sketchbook Heads. Cement Fondu c.1960
Stratford-Upon- Avon: 2 paintings commissioned by Richard Buckle to mark the 4th centenary of Shakespeare’s birth.
Biography: Exhibitions, commissions & awards
1982
Elected Royal Academician
1984
Elected to Royal Watercolour Society. Eastern Arts Drawing Prize. Rowney Drawing Prize. Commission— Imperial War Museum to record British Army of the Rhine  exercise “Operation Lionheart” Westphalia.Germany.
Lorne Scholarship: London University. Commissioned by Archbishop of Canterbury. Painting for Pope in celebration of ecumenical accord. Collection: Vatican Eastern Arts Drawing Prize. Commission:  Book illustrations to accompany Poems by James Kirkup, ‘Look at it this way’.  Rockingham Press. Commission: University of Birmingham 2 Works: Guardian I & II Commission:Drawings published in conjunction with Fay Weldon short story, ‘New Years Eve’. Clarion Publishing.
1986- 1987
1989
1990
1993
1994
1995
Cover illustration. Women’s Lives into Print. Theory, Practise and Writing of Feminist Auto/Biography. Macmillan Press. Edited by Pauline Polkey          Cover illustration. Ways of Returning. poems by Linda Saunders 2004 Arrowhead Honorary Royal West of England Academician Open University Lecture: Points of Departure
1999
2004
2005
2008
St. Augustine Landing in England. Watercolour 1989 Lambeth Palace Commission presented to the Pope. 102cm x 91cm
Selected Exhibitions
1960    London Group.              Zwemmer Gallery,  London              Royal Academy of Arts,London.              Royal Watercolour Society 1962    Cheltenham Art Gallery:Six Young Painters 1963     Liverpool, John Moores 1963     New Arts Centre, London 1964     Queen’s Square Gallery, Leeds 1964     Stratford-upon-Avon: Shakespeare Festival               Leeds City Art Gallery: “Round About London Galleries” 1967     Trafford Gallery, London 
1978
1981- 1982
1983
1984
1985
London, Royal Academy Jubilee: 25 Years of British Art Milton Keynes, Cranfield College. “Fragments Against Ruin”,Arts Council “The Subjective Eye”, Midland Group Arts Council London, Moira Kelly Fine Art London and Edinburgh, Fruit Market Hayward Annual. British Drawing (Eastern Arts/Tolly Cobbold 55-86  Touring Exhibition) New York, Britain Salutes New York. ‘8 in the 80s’.  Moira Kelly fine Art, Green St. Soho 1st Prize “Drawing for All”Gainsborough House, Eastern Arts Touring “Critics Choice”, Leeds City Art Gallery Bradford Central Library: “Collectors Choice”, London Group, R.C.A. Gallery Sheffield, Graves. “Frail Peace” Personal Visions on War London: Arthur Young Industrial Sponsors Exhibition
Leicestershire Invited Artists: Gainsborough House. “Drawing For All’ Eastern Arts Touring Leeds Polytechnic: “New Art in Yorkshire” London SW7. Royal College of Art.‘Exhibition Road’ Over 80 eminent painters who studied at the college  celebrating the RCA’s 150th anniversary Edinburgh, Kingfisher Gallery John Moores, Liverpool Gallerie Zur Alten Deutschen Schule,Thun, Switzerland Boundary Gallery, London. NW8 Connaught Brown, London.W1 Lamont Gallery, London. E2 Mercury Gallery, London. W1 Royal Watercolour Society, London.
1986
1987
1988
1991- 1992
1993- 1999
1996- 1999
1997
2004- 2005
Boundary Gallery, London. NW8 Lamont Gallery, London. E2 Royal Watercolour Society, London. Discerning Eye.Mall Galleries, London. Nottingham University “ Representing Lives” Featured artist RWS London:Bankside Carlow Arts Festival, Eire Visual Wit. Royal Academy, London One Hundred Years: One hundred Works RWA 18th Sept- 28th October 2013 Aylesbury Museum: Points of Desparture: Retrospective Wakefield City Art Gallery,  West Yorkshire. Solo Exhibition Mercer Art Gallery Harrogate Art and Yorkshire: From Turner to Hockney 12 April - 12 October 2014 Passions and Alarms: Solo Exhibition, Mercer Gallery Only Connect: Mixed Exhibition Royal Academy. London. Women of Vision  FRINK, BLOW, LAWSON RWA. Bristol 16 Dec 2017 - 11 March 2018. [LINK]
2001
2013
2017
2018
2014
All images: copyright the estate of Sonia Lawson
CONTACT
Horseman in Snow Flurry. Oil on Canvas. C.1978. Collection Open University
2015
2001
'Free' charcoal and gouache, from Lawson's Sketchbook
2006
2008
Imperial War Museum Commission : Sketchbooks
Commission by Archbishop of Canterbury. Vatican Collection
SONIA LAWSON
SONIA LAWSON