Marie Harnett in her studio in London.
Copyright Darrell Tufts, Cristea Roberts Gallery
About
Marie Harnett was born in 1983 in Hertfordshire, England. She studied drawing and painting at Edinburgh College of Art, graduating in 2006.
Harnett makes highly detailed, meticulous drawings derived from film stills which capture fleeting moments of drama, beauty and suspense. By removing the stills from their context and reworking them as intricate pencil studies, Harnett focuses on every aspect of pose, light and texture. She also interweaves different elements into her drawings, including fragments of Old Master paintings, as well as mirroring, the use of negative and layering images upon one another. Harnett also explores these themes in her printmaking, which include large scale linocut prints of images built up from black and white curving lines, which can take up to one month to carve, and a series of mezzotints, which are housed in the permanent collection of the British Museum, London.
Recent solo and group exhibitions include The British Museum, London; Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam (2023); Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (2022); Cristea Roberts Gallery, London (2021, 2017); BcmA, Berlin (2020); Städtische Galerie, Bietigheim-Bissingen; Haugesund Museum of Fine Art, Haugesund (2019); Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut (2017); Theodore: Art, New York, USA (2017); Royal Academy of Arts, London (2023, 2018, 2016); Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague (2016); Bremen Kunsthalle, Bremen (2015) and Galleria Bonomo, Rome (2014). In 2019 Harnett completed a residency at The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Connecticut.
Harnett’s works are held in international public and private collections including British Museum, London; National Galleries Scotland, Edinburgh; Government Art Collection, London; Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh; Städtische Galerie Bietigheim-Bissingen; Yale Centre for British Art, Connecticut; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Connecticut; and Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Marie Harnett lives and works in London.
Education
2003-06 Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland
Selected Exhibitions
2025
Marie Harnett: Were you dreaming?, Cristea Roberts Gallery, London, UK
2024
Drawing Biennial 2024, Drawing Room, London, UK
Tracing Absence, Cristea Roberts Gallery, London, UK
The Printmaker’s Art: Rembrandt to Rego, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, UK
2023
New Acquisitions, The British Museum, London, UK
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Pop Life, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Lost Girls, The Flowers Gallery, London, UK
2021
New Arrivals, The Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Scotland
What Was My Own, Cristea Roberts Gallery, London, UK
2020
Figure Up, BcmA, Berlin, Germany
Collectors Plus, Silverlens Gallery, Manilla, Phillipines
Analogue, Fox Jensen, Auckland, New Zealand
2019
Linocut Today, IX, Städtische Galerie, Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany
HIT, Haugesund Museum of Fine Art, Haugesund, Norway
2018
Intensity, House of St Barnabas, London, UK
250th Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
2017
Still, Alan Cristea Gallery, London, UK
Marie Harnett, Theodore:Art, New York, US
Everything Exists Now, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK
2016
Last Year in Marienbad; A Film as Art, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic
Linocut Today, Städtische Galerie Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Drawing on Drawing, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, UK
New Editions & Acquisitions, Alan Cristea Gallery, London, UK
2015
Last Year in Marienbad; A Film as Art, Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition, Alan Cristea Gallery, London, UK
2014
Drawn to the Real, Alan Cristea Gallery, London, UK
Drawings, Galleria Bonomo, Rome, Italy
2013
Thirteen, Alan Cristea Gallery, London, UK
Film in Contemporary Art, Nitra Gallery, Slovakia
A Parliament of Lines, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Notorious, Theodore Art, New York, US
A Parliament of Lines, Pier Art Centre, Orkney, UK
Editions and Acquisitions, Alan Cristea Gallery, London, UK
2012
Beyond Reality, British Painting Today, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic
A Parliament of Lines, Edinburgh City Art Centre, Edinburgh, UK
2011
Paintings, Prints and Works on Paper, Alan Cristea Gallery, London, UK
New Editions and Acquisitions, Alan Cristea Gallery, London, UK
2010
Drawing Artists, West Dean Gallery, Sussex, UK
New Editions and Acquisitions, Alan Cristea Gallery, London, UK
2009
Threadneedle Prize, Mall Galleries, London, UK
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
RSA Spring Open, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, UK
New Contemporaries 2009, Alan Cristea Gallery, London, UK
2008
In Drawing, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London, UK
Threadneedle Figurative Prize, Mall Galleries, London, UK
2007
The Aspect Prize 2007, Paisley Museum and Art Galleries, Scotland, UK
ARTfutures 2007, Bloomberg SPACE, London, UK
New Faces 2007, The Leith Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
2006
On a Small Scale, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
Identity, Clarion Contemporary Art, London, UK
Brave Art 2006, Atlantis Gallery, Old Truman Brewery, London, UK
Selected Public Collections
DE
Städtische Galerie, Bietigheim-Bissingen
UK
British Museum, London
Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh
Government Art Collection, London
National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh
US
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut
University of Wyoming Art Museum, Wyoming
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Connecticut
Residencies
2016 Vytlacil, New York, USA
2019 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Connecticut, USA
Born 1983, Hertfordshire, UK Lives and works in London, UK
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