Austin Taylor was born in Bolton, Lancashire. His family emigrated to Canada when Taylor was a boy and, following his father’s death while serving in the First World War, he had to find work at the age of fourteen. His gift for art led him to take evening classes at the Winnipeg School of Art where he was taught by ‘Group of Seven’ artist, Lemoine Fitzgerald. His day job as an illustrator brought him into contact with two other notable Canadian artists, Bob Bruce and Gordon Smith. After army service in WW II, Taylor left Europe for further study in the U.S.A.. He joined the Art Students’ League in New York where his teachers included Morris Kantor, Yasuo Kuniyoshi and Vaclav Vytlacil.
Following his return to England in 1948 he married the artist, Winifred Pluckrose, and then began a series of successful shows at the St George's Gallery in 1949, the Redfern Gallery in 1950, the Leicester Galleries in 1951, the Beaux Arts Gallery in 1952 and the Ware Gallery in 1956.
In later life, disillusionment with ‘modern art’ led Taylor to quit exhibiting; a posthumous retrospective of his work was held at Duncan Campbell Fine Art in London.
The collection comprises intimate and sensitive snapshots of his wife engaged in domestic tasks, as well as an array of studies showing places that map the path of his life's journey from Canada, to London, Bruges and many other European cities.
