Andrew Vicari was born into an Italian immigrant family in Port Talbot, Wales in 1932. He studied painting at the Slade School of Fine Art in London under Lucian Freud and William Coldstream. In the early 1970s he was introduced to the Saudi Royal family, which resulted in him producing decorations for a conference hall in Riyadh, as well as portraits of members of the royal family and officials.
Painter Andrew Vicari was born Andrea Vaccari in Port Talbot, Wales on 20 April 1932, the first of five children of Italian immigrants Vittorio Vaccari and Italia Bertani. During the Second World War, the family was evacuated to Aberdare in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf. Following the introduction of internment for so-called 'enemy aliens' in June 1940, his father was interned on the Isle of Man, an experience that made a deep impression on Vicari – his earliest memories were of seeing his father behind barbed wire. Vicari showed a precocious interest in art and, at the age of 12, he was awarded a gold medal at the National Eisteddfod of Wales. After finishing his studies at Neath Grammar School for Boys, he applied to the Slade School of Fine Art in London in 1950, but was initially rejected until a student dropped out, allowing him to enrol. He studied under Lucian Freud and William Coldstream, concentrating in particular on oil painting, during what was often regarded as the school’s greatest years, fellow students including Michael Andrews, Euan Uglow, Victor Willing, Bernard Cohen and Craigie Aitcheson. Vicari was also encouraged by Francis Bacon, Josef Herman and Augustus John.
However, Vicari left the Slade in 1952, without completing his diploma course, to travel to Florence. He subsequently moved to Rome and stayed in Italy for two years before, having exhausted his savings, he returned to London, where he worked as a portrait painter and held his first public exhibition at the Obelix Gallery in 1956. Manchester Guardian art critic Stephen Bone noted of the show that Vicari’s ‘self portrait in a hat is a sound and serious picture'. In the same year Vicari participated in a group show at the Redfern Gallery, when art critic David Sylvester wrote of his ‘images of a remarkable vibrant quality, rich in poetry’ (Art UK). Vicari also held a solo exhibition as part of Cowes Week, one of the oldest sailing regattas in the world, taking place between the Isle of Wight and the south coast of England. The works included a portrait of boat designer, Uffa Fox, seascapes, and views of Cowes and the Isle of Wight. Tatler and Bystander commented that ‘Vicari is the originator of the romantic realism style, which is particularly refreshing, after the recent plethora of pop art, for its honest individuality and subtle use of colour’ (Tatler and Bystander 1964, p. 238).
The turning point in Vicari’s career came in the early 1970s, when he was introduced to the Saudi Royal family by a friend employed in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. An imposing conference hall was to be built in the capital of Riyadh around 1974, and Vicari was commissioned to decorate it with depictions of the dynasty and the history of the country. It took Vicari over five years to complete this regal narrative, producing almost 60 works depicting the rise of the House of Saud, symbolically titled ˂em˃ The Triumph of the Bedouin ˂/em˃. He also painted portraits of members of the royal family and officials, for which he was appointed to the high rank of an honoured court painter. The collection now hangs in the King Faisal Conference Centre in Riyadh, one of three spaces dedicated entirely to Vicari's artworks in Saudi Arabia. Vicari was extremely popular also in China and France, where he successfully established a career in painting portraits of prominent figures. Among his sitters were Sophia Loren, François Mitterrand, Mao Zedong, Vladimir Putin and Monaco's Prince Rainier. In December 2000, Vicari unveiled his last grand-scale work, a triptych entitled ˂em˃ La Vigonade de la Victoire des Motards de la Police Nationale Francaise ˂/em˃, at the French Ministry of the Interior in Paris, commissioned to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the creation of FCWN (Motorcycle Police Force of France). In 2002 he was commissioned to paint a mural in Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. Andrew Vicari died at Swansea Morriston Hospital, Swansea, Wales on 3 October 2016. His work is represented in UK public collections in the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, National Library of Wales, and National Museum Wales.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Andrew Vicari]
Publications related to [Andrew Vicari] in the Ben Uri Library