Nigel Caple

Nigel Caple was born on the Isle of Wight. He studied art at Portsmouth College of Art and the Department of Fine Art at Portsmouth Polytechnic (now the University of Portsmouth), where he received a BA Honours Degree in Fine Art.

Nigel Caple is a British artist and lecturer.

While at Portsmouth Polytechnic he studied with the painter Miles Richmond. After graduation he continued to be tutored by Miles at various locations including Ronda in Spain, Morley College in London and The Motor House in North Yorkshire. Miles was arguably one of David Bomberg’s closest students. Nigel’s relationship with Miles continued until Miles’ death in 2008.

Between 1987-8 Nigel worked on a series of paintings and drawings based upon Ryde Pier on the Isle of Wight.

In 1988 Nigel began painting and drawing the historic Shinjo Matsuri Festival of Northern Japan. These drawings and paintings culminated in a touring exhibition that was part of the UK’s prestigious Japan Festival 1991.[1]

In 1992 he was invited by cultural authorities in Japan to create and coordinate an exhibition. The subsequent show was entitled An Exhibition of Works by Eight British Artists (1919-1992). The exhibition was held in Northern Japan. The artists featured were David Bomberg, Marion Milner, Harry Thubron, Miles Richmond, John Rodrigues, Ann Kiernan, David Seaton and Nigel Caple.

In 1994 Nigel started a series of drawings and paintings of interiors, as a homage to his parents and to a friend, Marion Milner, leading to an exhibition called Life's Dreams.

Between 1995-6 he painted alongside Miles Richmond at the South Bank University in London. Miles was continuing his studies in relation to his millennium celebration painting, a panoramic view of London as seen from the roofs of South Bank University.

During 1996-9 Nigel helped conceive and coordinate a group show called Bridges. This was The Daiwa Foundation’s Anglo-Japanese Visual Arts Touring Show, which toured the UK, Europe and Japan.[2][3]

From 1997 he has been working on a series of paintings and drawings of London cityscapes.

Nigel travelled along the Tōkaidō Road in Japan between 1998 and 2000 in order to make drawings of the views once used by Utagawa Hiroshige in his woodblock series entitled The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō. These drawings formed the basis for a series of paintings and culminated in a touring exhibition and a lecture series during 2001-2002. Locations included Hertfordshire University and The British Museum. The exhibition was part of the UK’s Japan Festival 2001.[4] His lecture on the Tokaido given in 2013 for The Japan Society was subsequently published as an article in The Japan Society's Proceedings publication.[5]

He has taken part in numerous solo and group exhibitions and has received support from both public and commercial sponsors for his painting projects, including The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, The Corporation of London and Mitsubishi Electric.

His paintings are held in public collections in Britain and Japan. Works in private collections are in the UK, France, Germany, America and Japan. David Bomberg’s step-daughter Dinora Davies-Rees often supported Nigel’s practice as a painter as did the author, psychoanalyst and painter Marion Milner.

Nigel is currently teaching and lecturing in London.