{{Short description|English painter}} {{for|the American swimmer|Justin Mortimer (swimmer)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Justin Mortimer''' (born 1970) is an English painter, recognized for his paintings of well known high society including Harold Pinter, Sir Steve Redgrave and Queen Elizabeth II. He won the National Gallery's BP Portrait Award in 1991.
==Early life and education== Mortimer was born in 1970 in Cosford,<ref name="Flash 2010">Jane Neal, [http://www.flashartonline.com/interno.php?pagina=articolo_det&id_art=595&det=ok&title=JUSTIN-MORTIMER 'Justin Mortimer: This Could Be Home'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006065835/http://www.flashartonline.com/interno.php?pagina=articolo_det&id_art=595&det=ok&title=JUSTIN-MORTIMER |date=2014-10-06 }}, FlashArt, March/April 2010. Online article retrieved 2012-04-25.</ref> Shropshire, England.<ref name="Bath 2013">Marianne Sweet, [http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/Artist-Justin-Mortimer/story-20244389-detail/story.html 'Artist Justin Mortimer'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923182634/http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/Artist-Justin-Mortimer/story-20244389-detail/story.html |date=2015-09-23 }}, Bath Chronicle, 30 November 2013. Online article retrieved 2014-10-05.</ref> His family lived in Somerset and Cornwall and Mortimer went to Wells Cathedral School.<ref name="Bath 2013" /> He studied at the Slade School of Art from 1988 to 1992.<ref name="Artnet profile">[http://www.artnet.com/artists/justin-mortimer/biography-links Justin Mortimer Biography], Artnet.com. Retrieved 2012-04-25.</ref>
==Career and works== Mortimer came to public attention when he won the National Portrait Gallery's BP Portrait Award in 1991.<ref>[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp08056/justin-mortimer?search=sas&sText=justin+mortimer Justin Mortimer (1970-)], National Portrait Gallery website. Retrieved 2012-04-25.</ref> He subsequently was given a number of important commissions, to paint well-known public figures including Harold Pinter, Queen Elizabeth II, David Bowie and Sir Steve Redgrave.<ref name="Artnet profile" />
Mortimer painted Queen Elizabeth II in 1998. The commission marked her 50 years as President of the Royal Society of Arts. Prue Leith, who arranged the commission, recalls the painting was controversial because it showed the Queen's head separated from her body.<ref name="Life on a Plate">Prue Leith, [https://books.google.com/books?id=iY_D6d4gAukC&dq=%22justin+mortimer%22+artist&pg=PT245 "Relish: My Life on a Plate"], Quercus (ebook, 2012), pp 311-312. {{ISBN|978-0-85738-565-9}}</ref>
Mortimer's recent paintings take on difficult subjects, including war, barbarism and death.<ref name="Flash 2010" /><ref name="LA Times 2011">[http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/04/art-review-justin-mortimer-häftling-at-mihai-nicodim-gallery.html 'Art review: "Justin Mortimer: Häftling" at Mihai Nicodim Gallery'], LA Times, 14 April 2011. Retrieved 2012-04-25.</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://justinmortimer.co.uk/ Official website]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mortimer, Justin}} Category:Living people Category:1970 births Category:People from Cosford, Shropshire Category:Artists from Shropshire Category:Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Category:English contemporary artists Category:20th-century English painters Category:21st-century English painters Category:BP Portrait Award winners