John Augustus Avis Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1931 - d. 2015

John Augustus Avis was born in Surbiton, Surrey in 1931. A student at Camberwell from 1947-50, he was taught by John Minton, Sam Carter and Susan Einzig, before winning the scholarship to the Slade School of Art, where he was taught by Coldstream, Rogers and Patrick George. There, his talent for draughtsmanship won him the Slade Tonks Drawing Prize. Amongst his contemporaries and friends at this time were Ewan Uglow, Gordon Davies, Tom Espley, Anthony Eyton, Patrick George, Geri Morgan, Patrick Symons, John Thompson. Avis showed his works in numerous group exhibitions, including Young Contemporaries and at the R.B.A. at the Mall Galleries. He held numerous teaching posts: in Kumasi, Ghana, in 1964, where he had been appointed Senior Lecturer in charge of Painting on the BA course at the University’s Faculty of Art and Design. Other teaching posts include: Senior Lecturer in Foundation Studies in Ipswich School of Art; Head of School of Art & Design at the Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka, Zambia (1970), Head of Foundation Studies at the Faculty of Art & Design, Doncaster Institute of Higher Education (1974); and Head of the Department of Foundation and Diploma Studies at the Chelsea School of Art where he stayed until retirement.