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John Napper British (1916 - 2001)
John Napper (1916-2001) John Napper studied at Dundee then later at the Royal Academy in London. During the Second world war he became a war artist in Sri Lanka formerly Ceylon, and East Africa. The vibrancy of colour he found in the tropics greatly influenced his work. After becoming a successful portrait painter in England he later moved to Paris where he produced dark brooding Oils. He then moved on to Brittany where he befriended the Cubist artist Georges Braque. After a Sojourn to America he returned to Britain in 1971 where he lived until his death in 2001. His two most well known patrons were the Earl of Plymouth and the Prince of Wales whom the artist did a portrait of in 1996. His portrait of the queen is on display at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, which was commissioned by the Liverpool Corporation before the queens coronation in 1952. On seeing the results they rejected it saying it was not a good likeness, in particular the neck was too long, Napper said, "it was not as portrait of the Queen , but a Queen".
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