I have made pictures and drawn all my life. Growing up with the paintings of my Aunt, Elsie Dawson, was amazing. Her fine landscapes and flower paintings touched me deeply. My own journey in art soon transported me back to the second half of 16th century Italy of Tiziano Vecelli and then on toward Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, working into the early 17th.
Image above: Two pages from The Russian Album. Gesso, graphite on printed paper. (2013-14).
That period of European art continued to influence me considerably until I saw the Joseph Beuys exhibition in Paris in 1994. Beyond Douglas Duncan’s photographs documenting the life of Picasso, I had never particularly engaged with contemporary art until then. Beuys‘ “social sculpture” and his way of working with animals – his swans and bees and deer – spoke to me in a way that has made more and more sense as I have deepened my practice. Beuys was a shaman and his approach to art-making was to invoke the Spirit of the Animal. His Honey-Pump for the Workplace (Honigpumpe am Arbeitsplatz) was not a representation of any bee, but an invocation of the work and order in a micro-society so transcending form.
Another important encounter on my journey was American artist Cy Twombly. The increasing freedom of line and the passionate struggle with containers (boxes, lines, the canvas itself) speaks to me a lot about our own freedoms and constraints. Twombly remains for me one of the greatest of 20th-century painters – my own very personal Turner.
I took a break from exhibiting following my return to the UK, with my last exhibition taking place in Paris in 2014. Many changes were taking place in my life, it was difficult to find space to work. I continued, however, to illustrate for the press, make personal work, and have now self-published two books for children. The Salmon’s Tale (2017) and Voyage of Dreams (2018). These are available for purchase as e-books here. Settled in my narrowboat in 2019, I now feel ready to return to art-making and look forward to showing new work on this website.
Brief Biography
Born in Glasgow, Scotland in July 1963
Graduated in Botany at Durham, July 1985
Ph.D. from Cambridge awarded in March 1990
Left for France in 1992, lived and worked in Paris until September 2012
My children were born in 1997 and 1999
Returned to England in 2012
Moved onto narrowboat Victoria Eugénie in July 2019
Solo shows
2014 Galerie Schumm-Braunstein, 75003, Paris, France.
Artist’s book “Metallographia” & The Rain Books.
2012 Galerie Schumm-Braunstein, 75003, Paris, France.
Prayer Wall & Artists Book “Milton”.
2010 Merle Moqueur, 75020, Paris, France.
2009 Galerie Schumm-Braunstein,75003, Paris, France.
The place from where we started.
2005 Théâtre de la Commune, 93300, Aubervilliers, France
2004 Galerie Troisième œil, 75020, Paris, France
2003 Galerie Troisième œil, 75020, Paris, France
2002 Flèche d’Or, 75020, Paris, France
2002 Equipages, 75020, Paris, France
2001 Les Broches, 75012, Paris, France
1998 Clare Hall College, Cambridge, GB
1995 Galerie Etienne de Causans, 75006, Paris, France
1995 Broughton House Gallery, Cambridge, GB
1994 Centre International de Création Video (CICV), Montbélliard, France
1994 Galerie Etienne de Causans, 75006, Paris, France
1991 Broughton House Gallery, Cambridge, GB
1988 Clare Hall College, Cambridge, GB
Group shows
2012 Salon International de l’Estampe et du Dessin au Grand Palais, 27-29 April
2011 Palindromes. Galerie de Roussan, 75020, Paris, France
2011 Recessionists: Fading Light, Wiveliscombe, Somerset, GB.
2011 Fil-Rouge. (May) Galerie Schumm-Braunstein, Paris, France
2011 Salon International de l’estampe, et du dessin. (April)
Galerie Schumm-Braunstein / Grand Palais, Paris, France
2010 Artists Books International, (December),
Galerie Schumm-Braunstein / Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2010 Blanc. (June) Galerie Schumm-Braunstein, Paris, France
2010 Miniartextile 19, Venice, Italy
2010 Miniartextile 19, Montrouge, 92120, France
2010 Pages Eparses, (Jan/Feb) Galerie Schumm-Braunstein, 75003, Paris, France
2009 Miniartextile 19, Como, Italy
2009 80-80 Photo-graphisme, ppavillion Carré, 75020, Paris, France
2009 Salon Pages. (November) Paris, France.
2007 80-80 Photo-graphisme, pavillion Galerie Anatome, 75011, Paris, France
2006 Paris-Photo, Stand Galerie VU’, Carousel du Louvre, 75001, Paris, France
2006 Exhibition Carte-blanche, Aman Iman, Galerie Artazart, 75010, Paris, France
2004 Galerie Marlyse Calame, Vence, 06140, France
2004 Bundaberg Art Center, Bundaberg, Australia
1996 Pantin/Moscow – Twin cities exhibition. Pantin/Moscow.
1996 Exposition des acquisitions. Municipalité de Pantin, 95300, France
1995 Galerie Point Rouge, 75008, Paris, France
1995 Galerie Samagra, Paris, 75006, Paris, France
1992 Exposition Esatern Arts, King’s Lynn, United Kingdom
1988 Cambridge Artists, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Large scale works
1997 “Jericho” Screen 4 panels 220cm x 50 cm.
Recto: oil on canvas. Verso: charcoal on paper. Collection Antoni)
1994 Mural (260cm x 260cm, acrylic, private apartment, 75004, Paris, France)
1987 Mural (200cm x 1000cm, acrylic on canvas,
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, UK)
1987 Mural (200cm x 1000cm, acrylic on canvas,
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, UK)
Public and Private collections
1994 Clare Hall College, Cambridge, UK. Acquisition
1996 Municipal collection, Pantin, Seine-Saint-Denis, 93500, France. Acquisition
2012 Artists’ books Milton (2 volumes), Collection of the Bibliothèque Sainte Genviève, Paris, France. Acquisition.
Concours and Salons entered.
Exhibition Association Florence, Paris, 2009
Miniartextile, Como, Italy, 2009
Jeune Création, Paris, 2009
2009 Mac 2000, 2008
Jeune Création, Paris, 2008
Eastern Arts, Kings Lynn, GB, 1992
Publications
2010 Miniartextile 19, Como/Montrouge/Venice, Catalogue
2007 80+80, Photo_graphisme
2006 Melancolia, Revue Aman Iman #2, 2006.
Carte blanche avec Laurence Leblanc, Galerie VU’
2006 Paris-Photo, Catalogue
Art direction
Independent art direction for: EFUS // Visual Identity (co-author),2010
Éditions Aman Iman // Gröna Lund, Anders Petersen, 2009
Agence VU’ // VU-MAG. 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
Magnum Photos // Magnum Turkey Catalogue, 2007
The Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris // IAP Activity Report 2007
Musée de l’art et de l’histoire de Judaisme // Exhibition design:
De Superman au Chat du Rabbin, 2007
Cité nationale de l’histoire de l’immigration // Visual Identity (co-author).
Teaching art and design
Teaching at Diploma and Master level,
at the following art/design schools in Paris:
école Intuit Lab, 75015, Paris. Director of Studies, 2010 – 2012
école Intuit Lab, 75015, Paris. Editorial design, Lab 4 (Diploma year), 2005 – 2012
école Intuit Lab, 75015, Paris. Master in Design and Brand management, 2006 – 2012
LISAA, 75005, Paris. Culture/Brand, 2009-2010
L’École Estienne (ESAIG), 75013, British Graphic Design, 2005 – 2009
L’École Estienne (ESAIG), 75013, Body discourses:
Making the body speak (Lectures in medical and scientific illustration), 2009
Artists’ representation
Peter Jeffs is currently a member, advised, supported and protected
as a member of the Association of Illustrators
Peter Jeffs was represented by the gallery Schumm-Braunstein, Paris,
under the name J.P. Noordman, from 2010 to 2014.
Acquisition of works
Please contact me directly concerning sales and commissions.
