Michael Praed is one of the most well-known contemporary artists working in Cornwall.
He is a prolific painter, working mainly in oils and pastel, drawing inspiration from the Cornish countryside and people. It has been said that his style is an intriguing and sometimes disturbing combination of realism and abstraction, portraying the beauty of the landscape and seascape with a sense of unease – almost with menace – in a way that no other artist has achieved; farmsteads huddle together against an unseen enemy in a landscape devoid of living things. Deserted breakwaters curve pincer-like into an empty sea; engine houses rise from the ground like megaliths, half as old as time.
Born in 1941 from a long line of Mousehole luggermen, Michael Praed was educated at Penzance and Falmouth School of Art followed by Brighton College of Art. He is a member of both the Newlyn and Penwith Societies of Art and has exhibited widely, retiring from teaching in 1993 to paint full time. His work ranges from large paintings of landscape and sea to smaller images depicting familiar friendly scenes of Cornishmen at work; from long lonely beaches to the bustle of a fish market, but always illustrating his observational and technical skills as both a painter and draughtsman to marvellous effect.
1967 Group Exhibition Holtberg, Holland
1969 Group Exhibition Marjorie Parr Gallery, London
1972 Group Exhibition Austin Reed Gallery, London
1973 One-man Exhibition Orion Gallery, Penzance
1974 One-man Exhibition Erica Bourne Gallery, London
1975 One-man Exhibition City Art Gallery, Plymouth
1978 Group Exhibition Municipal Gallery, Pont Aven
1979 One-man Exhibition Municipal Gallery, Pont Aven
1981 One-man Exhibition Newlyn Art Gallery, Newlyn
1982 One-man Exhibition Municipal Gallery, Pont Aven
1982 Group Exhibition Cuxhaven, Germany
1983 One-man Exhibition Gallery Lann-Roze, Lorient
1984 One-man Exhibition Galleri Aklund, Sweden
1985 One-man Exhibition Camborne School of Mines, Camborne
1986 One-man Exhibition Municipal Gallery, Pont Aven
1991 One-man Exhibition Penwith Gallery, St Ives
1994 One-man Exhibition Penwith Gallery, St Ives
1996 One-man Exhibition Municipal Gallery, Concarneau
2000 One-man Exhibition Penwith Gallery, St Ives
2001 60th Birthday Exhibition Penwith Gallery, St Ives
2004 One-man Exhibition Falmouth Maritime Museum, Falmouth
2011 Retrospective Summerhouse Gallery, Marazion
2011/17 Joint Exhibitions Eleven and a Half Gallery, London/Bristol/Edinburgh
2014 Praed-Piper Exhibition Penwith Gallery, St Ives & A&D Gallery, London
2015 Praed-Piper Exhibition Penwith Gallery, St Ives
2016 One-man Exhibition Summerhouse Gallery, Marazion
2017 Praed-Piper Exhibition Summerhouse Gallery, Marazion
2019 Praed-Piper Exhibition New Craftsman Gallery, St Ives
2021 Praed, Piper, Emanuel Penwith Gallery, St Ives
2022 Praed, Father & Son Summerhouse Gallery, Marazion
2023 Praed-Piper Exhibition Summerhouse Gallery, Marazion
2023 Group Exhibitions Tyler Gallery, Lighthouse Gallery, Summerhouse Gallery, Round House Gallery.
