Having started out in the 1950s as a figurative artist of the Kitchen Sink School of the London Group, Albert Irvin managed to break free from its constraints after discovering Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko at a famous Tate exhibition in 1956 and reinvented himself as an exponent of a dazzlingly vigorous Abstract Expressionism, becoming one of Britain’s most respected abstract artists and a true colourist.

Irvin’s connection with the Royal Academy runs deep and was naturally elected an RA member in 1998. Yet, his paintings have the power to go beyond geographical borders with more than 60 museums and institutions worldwide owning examples of his work.

Whitford Fine Art has managed to secure a number of key works from the 1950s and 1960s directly from the Estate, paintings that Irvin himself was reluctant to part with and will finally allow collectors and the public at large to rediscover the power and beauty of this influential British artist.