Untitled Abstract. c. 1964
 

Biography

Christopher Sturgess-Lief was a self-taught painter and draughtsman who created poetic pictures using private symbolism. He was born in Berlin, Germany, but educated at Sherborne School, Dorset. From the early 1960s he began showing on the railings in Hyde Park, when his work was spotted by Victor Musgrave, of Gallery One, who gave Sturgess-Lief a solo exhibition in 1962. Also showed at Rye Art Gallery, 1969, and took part in mini exhibitions at New Vision Centre Gallery, New Art Centre, Leicester Galleries, LG, Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol and elsewhere in the provinces, and abroad. He lived for some years in London. His 'Red Painting' was included in the Belgrave Gallery’s 1992 show 'British Abstract Art of the 50s and 60s', and in 1997 Julian Hartnoll’s Gallery put on a small solo exhibition. By this time Sturgess-Lief had ‘retreated into the obscurity in which he began’.