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Christopher Alexander exhibition at Margate's Turner Contemporary

09:18, 01 July 2015

updated: 12:49, 01 October 2019

Paintings, sketches and etchings of Kent scenes, many of which have never been seen by the public since the death of the artist Christopher Alexander, are now on show.

Turner Contemporary is presenting more than 25 landscapes and portraits by the Margate artist, who died in 1982.

Always experimental with materials, Alexander exhibited works including chalk, pastel and pencil studies, oil paintings and etchings. His artistic process was concerned with recording a subject in the simplest and most direct way, and many of the displayed works depict Margate, its inhabitants and surrounding areas, including the Old Town,seafront, Dreamland, Quex and the pier, destroyed in 1978.

Born in Margate himself, Alexander trained at the Royal College of Art after the Second World War. He returned to Kent in 1951 to teach figure-drawing at Thanet School of Art and later Canterbury College of Art.

Margate by Christopher Alexander
Margate by Christopher Alexander
Children playing in the shallows at the seaside back in the 1960s
Children playing in the shallows at the seaside back in the 1960s

Throughout his prolific career, Alexander produced more than 3,000 drawings, paintings and prints.

Son Steven Alexander says: “I am delighted that Turner Contemporary is hosting this significant exhibition of my father’s work. The gallery is yards away from where he painted and drew so regularly and enthusiastically.

“I hope that this exhibition will be a chance for art lovers in east Kent and beyond to see the full range of his work.”

The exhibition is now showing in Turner Contemporary’s ground- floor gallery space until Sunday, September 6. Entry is free.

Visit www.turnercontemporary.org or call 01843 233000.

Margte's broken pier
Margte's broken pier
A sketch by Christopher Alexander
A sketch by Christopher Alexander
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