Robert Ball Fine Art

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Artist Robert Ball A.R.C.A., R.B.A., R.B.S.A., R.W.A. was born in Birmingham in 1918 – 2009.

A skilled painter, printmaker and teacher, Robert Ball died in Gloucestershire leaving a whole body of material in his studio at Painswick including etching plates, the tools of his trade, drawings, oil paintings, watercolours, woodcuts, sketchbooks, letters and diaries recording his whole working life as an artist. He left one or more copies of every print he made and his family intend to continue to exhibit these and also occasionally buy and sell his work.

Inspired by Rembrandt, Durer and Van Dyke, examples of his etchings and paintings can be seen in The Victoria & Albert Museum, Cheltenham Art Gallery, Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery, The Ashmolean in Oxford, The Armitt Library and Museum in Ambleside, The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, The West Midland Police Museum, The Black Country Museum and Hereford Museum and Art Gallery.

The largest collection of his prints is held in the Archives of the City of Birmingham University Department of Art and Design where he was both a student and a teacher in the 1930’s completing the happy band of Birmingham Painter etchers; Cowern, Freeth and Ball. Robert believed that a picture should need no further input from the artist other than the visual effect achieved through skilled craftsmanship and training.

He became Principal of Stroud Art College teaching life drawing, anatomy and painting. He was a popular teacher and we would love to hear from his students, colleagues and friends. He was a friend of Laurie Lee and Frank Mansell and illustrated Frank’s much celebrated collection of poetry “Cotswold Ballads” with a series of beautiful woodcuts.

We would like to discover the history and whereabouts of the many landscapes and portraits that were sold as private commissions or from galleries throughout his lifetime. Please let us know if you have enjoyed looking at the pictures on this site or if you have any enquiries or other information to add to this Archive, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it