Ian Breakwell (26 May 1943 – 14 October 2005) was a British artist, active as a diarist, a draughtsman, a film-maker, a painter, a photographer and a print-maker.

Life

Breakwell was born on 26 May 1943 in Long Eaton, in Derbyshire. From 1961 to 1965 he attended the Derby College of Art, and then moved to London.

Work

Breakwell was part of the Artist Placement Group in the 1970s, and was for a time placed in the Department of Health and Social Security. He was sent to work in the psychiatric hospitals of Broadmoor in Berkshire and Rampton in Nottinghamshire; his film The Institution, made in 1978 with Kevin Coyne, is based on these experiences.

He died in London on 14 October 2005.

The Tate Archive holds a collection of his personal papers, correspondence, photographs and notebooks including documentation of 'The Institution' performances with Kevin Coyne.

Exhibitions

Breakwell's principal exhibitions include:

• Evidence. Greenwich Theatre Art Gallery, London, 1973

• Continuous Diary (travelling exhibition). Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, 1977

• Circus. Third Eye Centre, Glasgow, 1978

• 120 Days. Tate Gallery, London, 1982

• Echoes. Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1988

• Free Range, Survey of Ian Breakwell's publications 1964-1993 (travelling exhibition). Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1993

• Drawing across Boundaries. Loughborough University School of Art and Design, 1998

• Textworks 1966-1999. Loughborough University Gallery, 1999

• The Other Side. The De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, 2002

• Ian Breakwell: the Elusive State of Happiness (retrospective). Quad Gallery, Derby, 2010

• Ian Breakwell: Keep Things As They Are (retrospective). De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, 6 October 2012 – 13 January 2013.

Notes

References

External links

• Information on Channel 4 TV series Ian Breakwell's Continuous Diaries https://rewind.ac.uk/works/ian-breakwells-continuous-diary/

• obituary in the Independent