Arthur Hackney (1925 - 2010)
Arthur Hackney British artist born in Stainforth near Doncaster, Yorkshire in 1925.
The son of a miner they moved back to the Potteries in 1931 where his father worked in the N. Staffordshire coal mines. Arthur was apprenticed in the design department for Johnson Brothers and was accepted part-time to the Burslem School of Art encouraged by Reginald Haggar. He won a scholarship to the Royal College in 1943 but served in the Royal Navy from 1942 to 1946 including taking part in the D-Day Landings.
Later rejoining the Royal College of Art in 1946 as a student of the Engraving Department. Its Head was Prof Robert Austin who was considered as one of the primary printmakers of the 20th century he also had a reputation as an extremely demanding teacher. Hackney also won a travelling scholarship from the Royal College which took him to France and Italy for 12 months. Upon graduating in 1949 he moved to lecturer at West Surry College of Art raising to Head of Printmaking and Deputy Head of Fine Arts.
Arthur Hackney became an elected member of the RE (Royal Society of Painter Engravers) and RWS (Royal Watercolour Society) and his work is found in the national collection of a number of museums including: Victorian and Albert Museum, Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, London County Council and city art galleries of Bradford, Wakefield, Nottingham, Keighley, Sheffield and Preston as well the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.