Ivor Abrahams, RA (1935-2015) was renowned internationally as a sculptor, painter, collagist and printmaker.  He was born in Wigan in Lancashire and studied in London at St Martin’s School of Art 1952-53 and at Camberwell School of Art 1954-57.  He had his first exhibition at Gallery One, London in 1962, and was an influential figure in the British Pop Art movement.  In the mid-1970s he acquired a house in Languedoc in the South of France and the landscape and culture of the area became an important inspiration for his work, his subjects including gardens, the human figure and animals.  He also spent a lot of time in his studio in London.  Ivor Abrahams was elected a Royal Academician in 1991.  His work is held in many public collections, including the Tate Gallery, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, and the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and was collected also by the singer and songwriter the late David Bowie.

The book by Andrew Lambirth titled 'Eden and Other Suburbs: The Life and Work of Ivor Abrahams' has proved to be extremely useful as well as being a good read.