Bohuslav Barlow was born Bohuslav Klos in Bruntál, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) in 1947. In 1955 he immigrated to Blackpool, England, to join his mother. Barlow later studied at Manchester School of Art and Central School of Art, London; he lives and works in Todmorden, Yorkshire.
Painter Bohuslav Barlow was born Bohuslav Klos in the town of Bruntál, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) in 1947. As the Iron Curtain descended after the Second World War, his family fled to the town of Fürstenfeldbruck, near Munich, while he was still an infant. His mother soon left for England to gain work, while Barlow remained in Fürstenfeldbruck with his grandparents. In 1955, aged eight, he moved to Blackpool, England, to join his mother and stepfather (from whom he took the surname Barlow).
It was in England that Barlow began drawing, beginning with pencil and crayon on cheap paper. His first work was a view of Blackpool Tower, followed by copying film posters. He went on to attend Manchester School of Art, where he used oil paints for the first time, and then studied Fine Art at the Central School of Art in London. He worked for one term teaching art in London before pursuing his career as a professional artist full time and he began exhibiting with the South-East London Art Group in 1970. In 1973, Barlow was travelling from his home in London to Blackburn when he passed through the town of Todmorden in the Pennines, West Yorkshire. Impressed by the scenery, he decided to move to Todmorden at the age of 26. The romantic landscapes, stone architecture and remaining scars and structures of the Industrial Revolution in the Pennines have since provided inspiration for his paintings and drawings (including pastels), which frequently feature vivid backgrounds populated with nudes and allegorical figures, playing, dreaming or floating. Barlow also uses clowns and life-size puppets as 'props' and models, to create effects, described by John Robert-Blunn in the introduction to the publication of some of Barlow's works, Visual Alchemy, as 'melodramatic, sombre, humorous and fantastical'.
Barlow has had solo exhibitions at the Ginnel Gallery, Manchester, in 1983, and Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool, in 1989. He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including at Hartnoll & Eyre, London, in 1976, Manchester Academy of Fine Arts from 1982 onwards, and a show of Calderdale artists at the House of Commons in 1987. He has also shown with the Royal Society of Painters, Etchers and Engravers, the Royal Academy Summer Show, and the Pastel Society in the Mall Galleries, London. Barlow became a member of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts in 1991 and the Society of Graphic Fine Art in 1992. Barlow continues to live and work in Todmorden, where he has a gallery and studio. His work is held in several UK public collections, including Rochdale Art Gallery and Museum, Leeds City Council, and the Brontë Society, West Yorkshire.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Bohuslav Barlow]
Publications related to [Bohuslav Barlow] in the Ben Uri Library