John Drawbridge
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John Drawbridge was born in Wellington in 1930 and trained as an art teacher in Wellington and Auckland from 1949-1950. He received a scholarship to attend London Central School of Art from 1957-60, before relocating to Paris in 1961 to study and work at British surrealist painter and printmaker Stanley William Hayter's etching studio, Atelier 17.
Drawbridge's works include paintings in oil, watercolour and acrylic, printmaking (intaglio), murals, stained glass and carpet design, and are all concerned with themes he described as 'generally abstracted from landscape and figure'.
Drawbridge is perhaps best known in New Zealand for his 'opart' mural work. He was commissioned to produce murals for NZ House in London (1962), the NZ Pavilion at Osaka Expo (1970), the Beehive parliamentary buildings (Wellington 1969-70) and the National Library (Wellington 1987). He has also produced stained glass for the Home of Compassion Chapel in Wellington. However, it is within the printmaking field that Drawbridge's talents are most celebrated, as his mastery of the medium has enabled him to produce work of consistent and brilliant calibre.
Drawbridge was awarded an MBE in 1978 and his work is represented in notable public art galleries and private collections in New Zealand and overseas.