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Pulsford, Charles Denis, ARSA

1912 – 1989

Artist and teacher, born in Leek, Staffordshire, married to the stained glass artist Bronwen Gordon. Pulsford studied at Edinburgh College of Art, 1933–6. In 1937 he attended the Patrick Allan–Fraser School of Art, Hospitalfield, Arbroath, had a postgraduate year in 1938, in 1938–9 gaining a travelling scholarship. His fellowship at Edinburgh College of Art, 1939–47, was interrupted by two years’ war service. He was elected an associate of the RSA in 1959, the first abstract artist so honoured. Pulsford taught at Edinburgh College of Art, 1947–60, then for four years was initially a teacher at Loughborough College of Art before being made vice-principal and head of fine art at Wolverhampton Polytechnic. He retired in 1972 after a period as a visiting lecturer at the University of Edinburgh’s architecture department. That was the year he published his collection of theoretical writings, The Creative Cell. As well as group shows he exhibited widely in solo shows, initially at French Institute, Edinburgh, 1951; shared several shows at Gimpel Fils; had one-mans at Stirling and Cambridge Universities; and was given a studio show of works on paper at William Hardie Gallery, Glasgow, in 1992. Scottish Arts Council holds his work. Lived in Cambridge. (Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company) - sourced 2022-05-05 via ArtUK Pulsford was born in Staffordshire to Scottish parents who settled in Dunfermline when he was a child. He attended Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) from 1933-37. Following the end of the Second World War, a number of Scottish artists turned their backs on traditional paintings styles and instead embraced modernism and abstraction. Alan Davie, William Turnbull, William Gear and Eduardo Paolozzi are recognised as the key artists of this group, but Pulsford, whose work is less well-known, may be regarded as ‘the fifth man’. He taught at ECA from 1952-60 and latterly at Canterbury College of Art." (Text source; https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/artists/charles-pulsford - sourced 2022-05-05)



An image from the RSA collection.