My Updated Resumé - Kevin Geary

I was born in England in 1952 to Irish parents whose ancestries in Cork and Waterford span centuries. My mother was a solo violinist, who performed on BBC Radio and TV, and Ireland's RTE. My maternal grandfather was a marine artist and interior decorator; my paternal grandfather was an architect. One of my maternal aunts was a floral artist who exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Royal Watercolour Society, the Society of Women Artists, and her work was acquired by the Queen, Rudjard Kipling, and the Labour prime minister, Clement Atlee, amongst many others.

At the age of 13, I was given an award of excellence for my work from the Royal Drawing Society in England.

At the age of 15, I met Leslie Illingworth, the great political cartoonist for the Daily Mail, who looked at my cartoons and gave me much good advice. Later, he wrote a letter to me in which he described me as a budding genius, and urged me to keep on at my drawing.

I studied Anatomy and Colour Theory at the Royal Academy in London, as well as having private instruction under the late Professor Carel Weight, R.A.., who became something of a mentor to me.

At the age of 19, I became the first and youngest political cartoonist for the Financial Times in London. An original cartoon of mine from that time hung in 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's residence in London, and is now in the collection of the late Sir Edward Heath's Museum, Arundells, in Salisbury, England.

At the age of 20, I had my first solo exhibition at the King's Gallery in London, opened by the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who also lent my portrait of him to the show. 

Later, Harold Wilson took my portrait of Golda Meir to present to her personally in Israel.

Since my first one-man show in 1972, I have had over 90 exhibitions of my work in Europe, as well as the U.S. I have been included in exhibitions at the 

? National Portrait Gallery in London; 

? The Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts in San Francisco; 

? The Cleveland International Drawing Biennale, Cleveland; 

? The National Museum of Wales; 

? The Birmingham Art Gallery; 

? The Charlotte Square Gallery, Edinburgh; 

? The Carlisle Gallery; 

? The Laing Art Gallery, Manchester;

? Camden Arts Centre, London

? The Royal Festival Hall, London

? The Wildenstein Gallery, London

For over thirty years I received international acclaim for my commissioned portraits, which have included such prominent subjects as

? (Saint) Pope John Paul II, 

? Dr. Henry Kissinger, 

? Golda Meir, 

? Princess Michael of Kent, 

? Sen. John McCain, 

? Leonard Bernstein, 

? Ella Fitzgerald, 

? Count Basie, 

? and Placido Domingo, to name only a few.

Works of mine are included in the collections of several major museums, including 

? The Primary Collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London, 

? The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

And works of mine hang in the 

? Wigmore Hall, London; 

? Henry Wood Rehearsal Hall, London;

? Abbey Theatre, Dublin

In 2004, I stopped accepting regular portrait commissions to concentrate on my abstract and "face" paintings, which have been acquired by many major private collectors in Ireland, England, continental Europe, Japan and the US.

In 2007 my biography was included in the prestigious Allgemeines Künstlerlexicon, the German Encyclopedia of Biographies of prominent artists in the world, both past and present, published in Munich, which is the standard reference book of important artists used by major museums and auction houses.

My works have sold at Christies in London, Whyte’s Auctions in Dublin and Doyle, New York.

I am also a published poet; and a fine art photographer of portraits, and now especially of street scenes, cities, such as Paris, San Francisco and London, and beach communities and seascapes of the LA area. 

I also act as an art advisor, art broker (dealing with blue chip art by Picasso, Basquiat, Modigliani, Donald Judd, Van Gogh, Jasper Johns, Renoir, Cassatt and Warhol, etc.), and as an art consultant to collectors in a private capacity.