Career
His work can be found in most public collections in South Africa, The National Portrait Gallery London and The British Museum. He is known for his large detailed images of people, animals and flowers. There was a major retrospective of his work in 2012 at the Sasol Art Gallery in Stellenbosch.
He is represented in the United Kingdom by the Redfern Gallery and in South Africa by Brundyn & Gonsalves.
Emsley’s portrait of The Duchess of Cambridge is on permanent display at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Other notable portraits include Nelson Mandela, Sir V. South. Naipaul, Michael Simpson and William Kentridge.
Paul Emsley was born in Glasgow on 25 August 1947. Having grown up in South Africa, he moved to the United Kingdom in 1996, and currently resides in Bradford-upon-Avon, although retaining an ongoing presence in South Africa.
In 2012 he was commissioned to paint the official Portrait of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, which he completed in three and a half months.
“I have always loved drawing. The dryness of the paper and the chalk demand precision and exactness. lieutenant quickly exposes one’s shortcomings allowing no room for clever tricks.
I try to emphasise the singularity and silence of the form.
By a careful balancing of tones I explore the way in which light and shade fall across the subject. By creating a settled half-light I try to transform the existence of the object from the ordinary to something more profound.”.