Baker Beach, oil on board, 7 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches An Englishman at Home Abroad

How did an honored and distinguished English artist come to exhibit in a small San Francisco gallery? David Carr's primary motivation was his marriage in 1991 to a San Franciscan. He spends a portion of every year painting in California, even though London remains his primary home. Born and raised in North Yorkshire, Carr studied at the Slade School in London, where he won a coveted scholarship to study at the renowned British School in Rome. While still a student he was accorded the additional honor of being invited to join the London Group, a society that has counted among its members Henry Moore, Lucien Freud and David Hockney. He has exhibited at the prestigious Royal Academy summer exhibitions since 1966. From 1989 to 1994 he served as director of the Camden School of Art in London. Whether painting the vista from Alamo Square in San Francisco or Sir Christopher Wren's churches in London, Carr's paintings display a supreme mastery and a virtuosity that is always understated and never slick -- a virtuosity that enables him to render the most subtle mutations of light and sky with a spontaneous brush. A casual viewer might overlook Carr's work in this day of overblown creative efforts. His paintings are small and intimate. But if one pauses to examine -- what reward to the discriminating eye. -- William W. Whitney, art historian Portfolio of the artist's work

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