About the artist
Michele Franklin is a London-based American-British figurative painter whose work explores themes of race, survival, and female identity. Working primarily from life, her practice is rooted in emotional nuance and psychological depth. With an established exhibiting history including the Royal Academy and Ben Uri Gallery and Museum and work sold to many private collections. Franklin continues to develop a multidisciplinary practice that bridges fine art drawing, painting, and curatorial work supporting emerging artists.
Artist’s statement
My earliest artistic influence was my grandmother, Miriam Israels, a still life and portrait painter and niece of the Dutch artist Joseph Israels. Her second husband was Naum Gabo, the Russian constructivist sculptor whose large metal construct portrait head used to sit outside Tate Britain. Their circle included major figures of British and European modernism such as Ben Nicholson and Yves Tanguy.
My grandmother also built an impressive art collection featuring artists including Epstein, Orovida Pissarro, Mark Gertler and Utrillo. So I wasn't short of artistic influences and grew up to love most of these artists. However my strongest influences remain the great classics Rembrandt, Reubens, Picasso, Soutine, Vermeer and Artemisia Gentileschi, as well as contemporary artists such as Jenny Saville, Lucien Freud and Frank Auerbach. I also adore ancient Egyptian, Etruscan and Greek sculpture - though the Renaissance, particularly artists like Bellini, Piero della Francesca and Giorgione, remains my greatest source of inspiration, creating the magic I can only aspire to.
At school, I was fortunate to be taught by Stella Magarshack, who suggested Camberwell Art School would be right for me. I spent four years there (1977–81), specialising in painting with sculpture as a subsidiary, before travellng to Venice in 1982 to study etching. During my time at Camberwell I met my future husband, the sculptor Brian Taylor (1935–2013), with whom I had three children. Through him, I learnt a sculptor’s approach to drawing, which informed my approach to painting as well as drawing. So when I paint from life, I try to create three-dimensional space but also follow my intuition not always knowing where it will lead me.
I love painting from life and find that the more sensitive I am to my subject the better the painting turns out. Portraits are my favourite area although I find them tremendously difficult. But of course if the painting isn't difficult and the challenge isn't great enough - then the painting isn't really worth doing. I'm constantly reminded, particularly when looking at great artists, that there’s always more to learn.
Project Exhibit Women: Michele Franklin by Sabrina's World Productions
Michèle Franklin paints under the stern, unblinking eye of Rembrandt, who surveys her easel from the poster pinned up on the opposite wall. His self-portrait judges everything she makes. ‘He's always with me,’ she says, ‘and he's looking and he's saying, “it has to be better”.’ Progress is a strange word in the context of art….
L. Michele Franklin
1958 Born in Putney, Vermont State, USA
1966 moves with family to England
1977–81 Studies for a Fine Arts degree in painting and sculpture at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts; awarded a commendation for Sculpture.
1981 Postgraduate course in etching at Camberwell.
1981–92 Part-time teacher in art therapy, drawing, painting and sculpture, at Kingsway College London.
1982 Studies etching at International School of Graphics, Venice, Italy.
1982 Royal Academy Summer Show, London.
1983 First prize for oil painting Mall Galleries, London.
1984 one-person show at the Peter Potter Gallery, Haddington, Edinburgh.
International Etching Triennale,Venice British artists in Italy, Assisi.
Wapping Wall Studios, London.
Fieldbourne Gallery, St John's Wood, London
1985 Ben Uri Art Society, London purchases watercolour, "Banished"1985.
1986 Ben Uri Art Society, London with Simon Black, Cheryl Aaron and Ernst Gottschalk.
Charterhouse School, Godalming Surrey.
1987 One -person show the Zanzibar, Covent Garden London.
Ben Uri Art Society, London.
Holland Park Gallery, London.
1988 One-person show , "Women Together" at the Barbican Centre, London .
Associate Lecturer in Art,Camden Adult Education Institute, London 1991 Edwin Coe, London
1992 One-person show ,Sue Rankin Gallery, London.
Edwin Coe, London.
Birth paintings published in "Women's Art magazine .
Whitechapel Open studio show .
1995 Edwin Coe, London
1996 "Inclusion/Exclusion show, Keele University, Keele
1997 Art Supermarket Commissions toured London, Holland and Germany.
Cheltenham touring drawing competition.
London School of Economics.
The Discerning Eye
Mall Galleries London.
Blackheath Gallery, London
Collyer Bristow Gallery London
1998 Internet website Artonline.uk Edwin Coe, London.
The Barbican Print Fair London
The Royal Academy Summer Show, London
Whitechapel Open studio show.
Lectures on Holocaust works at Wolverhampton University.
1999 One person show, "Where was the Whole World?" Sternberg Centre for Judaism, London
Mall Galleries Exhibition of Contemporary Art. London
The National Print Show, Mall Galleries, London.
The Contemporary Print Show, Barbican Centre, London.
2000 One-person show, The Quaker Gallery, London
2001 One person show. Coningsby Gallery, London
2002 The Royal Academy Summer Show, London
2003 The Royal Academy Summer Show, London
2004 The Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Mall Galleries,London.
International Jewish Artist of the Year, Ben Uri/ London Jewish Museum of Art
2005 Sandelson Gallery, Cork Street London
2005 to 2014 studio shows.
2014 One -person show, Made in Greenwich London.
2015 One Person Show at Blackheath Halls London.
2016 Yehudi Menuhin School Show with late husband, sculptor Brian Taylor.
Lecture on own work at the Ben Uri Jewish Museum and Gallery.
New work by Michele collected by the Ben Uri Collection.
2018 Royal School of Needlework Embroidery course.
2019 Venice Biennale, Michele’s 1 minute film made in collaboration with her son Gabriel Franklin-Taylor selected to show in the Venice Biennale by dealer Caroline Wiseman.
New English Art Club Annual show.
2020 One Person Show at Jonathan Bergman, Amberden Estates, London.
2024 One Person Show, Holborn London WC1.
2025 One person show at Burgh House London
2026 Weiner Library London, Ronald Roberts drawings and book lecture with author Eve Rosenhaft
2026 Liverpool Ronald Roberts drawings and book lecture with author Eve Rosenhaft
2026 MICHELE FRANKLIN-TAYLOR ART opens. MICHELE sells and curates from her new website.
2026 Oxo Gallery Michele Franklin and Brian Taylor
bibliography
Anon., “The New York Art Review”(undated, c.1988)
Anon., “Well Figured Out”, The Arts, p.12
Anon., MANNA: “The Voice of Living Judaism”, no 65, Autumn 1999. (image of Nazi officer used on front cover)
Anon.,” Where Was The Whole World?”an exhibition of prints and drawings by L. Michele Franklin, 18th Oct 1999 – 6th Jan 2000, The Sternberg Centre for Judaism, Finchley, London
Anon., “Moving portrayal of Holocaust”, Edgware and Mill Hill Times, Thurs 7th Oct 1999
Austin, N, “Painting in the pain”, London Jewish News, 15th Oct 1999
Beaumont M.R. L. Michele Franklin, The Barbican, March 1988
Franklin L. M. “A view of birth which challenges “the secret society of mothers”, “Women’s Art” magazine, p.2
Weiner J. “Do Disturb”, Jewish Chronicle, 26 November 1999
LOCATION OF WORKS: PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Ben Uri Gallery/ The London Jewish Museum of Art
The London School of Economics
Private Collections in Australia, Germany, Israel, Italy, UK and USA.