Winston Branch, 1941

Winston Branch is a prominent British Postwar and Contemporary painter.

He was born in 1947 and raised in Castries, St Lucia (West Indies) until 1958 when his family, who recognized his talent, sent him to England to study art.

He attended the Slade School of Fine Art, where he studied under Frank Auerbach, and mingled with fellow rising stars such as David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, John Hoyland, and Patrick Procktor, and writer Robert Fraser. The Slade gave Branch an exceptional introduction to the art world. By the time he graduated, his work had been shown in notable British galleries, including the Art Lab in Drury Lane, the Crypt of St Martins-in-the-Fields, and the Round House. Internationally, his paintings were exhibited in Algeria and Belgium, and at the Pan African Cultural Festival in 1969. In 1971 he had a solo show in São Paolo, Brazil, which Branch calls the “second most important venue in the world for contemporary painting.” Branch was also a member of the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM) (1966–72), a collective of diasporan artists aimed at celebrating a shared sense of Caribbean nationhood, exchanging ideas, and forging a new Caribbean aesthetic in the arts. It was an exciting moment to be an artist in London, a time marked by radical social change, rebellion and artistic experimentation.

Shortly before graduating in 1970, Branch was also awarded the prestigious Prix de Rome, a two-year scholarship to the British School at Rome, but he found Rome too provincial and returned to the vibrant atmosphere of London in 1972, where he began teaching at Goldsmiths College.

Once he felt he had gained the necessary recognition, Branch moved to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he served as Artist-in-Residence. He then relocated to New York in 1973. His two-year stay in the city culminated with a successful show at the Terry Dintenfass Gallery.

Branch returned to London and, in 1976 was invited to spend a year in Berlin as part of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), a prestigious program that invites internationally renowned artists to Berlin to work and contribute to the city’s cultural life. His work was collected by the British ambassador, his son, and Her Britannic Majesty’s Military Government in Berlin.

He represented Great Britain at FESTAC 77 in Lagos, Nigeria – an influential and historically significant festival of arts, music, dance, literature and culture that some regard as a turning point in the development of a black global consciousness.

In 1978, Branch was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and moved back to New York, where the award brought him instant recognition. However, the pressure became overwhelming, and he returned to London in 1985.

In 1986 he joined the Caribbean Express, an art show on a train that traveled across England, showcasing West Indian paintings, literature and music. Shortly after, Branch reconnected with St Lucia, where he was invited to contribute to Project Helen, the St Lucia National Trust program aimed at building a national art collection. While St Lucia turned proved be an excellent environment for painting, Branch found the Caribbean market small and underdeveloped. The total abstraction of his work was often misinterpreted. To continue selling his work, he maintained strong connections with London.

In the early 2000s, Branch held several exhibitions at the Alliance Française in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the Oakland Museum of California, the Berkeley Art Museum, as well as in Argentina and the Dominican Republic.

More recently, he was honored with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 and received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Greenwich, London, in 2020. Alongside his artist career, Branch taught fine arts at several institutions in both London and the U.S., including the University of California, Berkeley in 1998 and Kansas State University in 2000. He also worked as a theatrical designer for various theater groups.

In 2018, Tate Britain acquired one of his paintings, Zachary II (1982). The museum will organize a retrospective exhibition in May 2025 featuring this work along with 10 other abstract paintings from the same series, all completed in 1982. This will be a significant event for the artist.

At 77, Branch, who has lived and exhibited internationally for six decades, continues to paint every day. On October 18, 2024, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire during an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace; an honor that recognizes services to the creative and fine arts.

Branch’s paintings are in several public and private collections, including Tate Britain (London, UK), the British Museum (London, UK), Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK), The Arts Council of Great Britain (London, UK), Rugby Art Gallery and Museum (Rugby, UK), The Museum of Modern Art (Sāo Paolo, Brazil), The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (New York, USA), The Brooklyn Museum (New York, USA), The Legion of Honor and de Young Museum (San Francisco, USA), The St Louis Art Museum (Missouri, USA), The Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, USA), The Berkeley Art Museum (Berkeley, California), The Hamburger Kunsthalle Museum (Hamburg, Germany) and Saint Lucia National Trust (Saint Lucia, West Indies).

Branch has exhibited his work consistently since the 1960s, He has exhibited paintings, and works on paper in over 25 solo shows, and over 75 groups shows.