Christopher Le Brun RA was born in Portsmouth in 1951. He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art (DFA) in London from 1970-74 and at Chelsea School of Art (MA) from 1974-75. With his early interest in history, myth and symbolism his work found sympathetic echoes with the leading neo-expressionists in Germany, the transavantguardia in Italy and new-image painters in the USA.

Since 1980 he has exhibited in many of the major surveys of international art, including Nuova Immagine Milan 1981, Zeitgeist Berlin 1982, and Avant-garde in the 80’s, Los Angeles 1987. His work has been regularly featured in British Council exhibitions in Australia, Japan, Scandinavia and Europe. From 1987-88 he received the D.A.A.D. award from the German government, living and working in West Berlin for a year. More recently he was included in Encounters at the National Gallery London 2000, and Contemporary Voices at the Museum of Modern Art, New York 2005. The New Art Gallery Walsall hosted a survey of his work in 2008. His most recent exhibition of painting was at Galerie Hohenthal und Bergen, Berlin 2009.

Sculpture in bronze has become an increasingly important part of his work in recent years. A cast of the monumental sculpture of a horse with two discs entitled Union stands at the entrance to the Museum of London at the Barbican. A 10 metre high sculpture - the City Wing - will be installed in the City of London near the Bank of England in summer 2009. Two bronzes will be shown in the park of Schloss Wendlinghausen, Germany in association with the Kunsthalle Bielefeld later this year from June to October.

As a printmaker his publications include 7 Lithographs 1989, 50 Etchings 1990, Four Riders 1992-3, Wagner 1994, and Motif Light 1998. Paragon Press published a second suite of 50 Etchings in Autumn 2005. Other notable work includes set and costume designs for Ballet Imperial at the Royal Opera House in 1984, paintings for the choir of Liverpool Anglican Cathedral in 1996, new Britannia gold and silver bullion coins for the Royal Mint in 2006, a medal for the British Art Medals Society in 2007, and a new fifty pence coin commemorating the foundation of Kew Gardens for the Royal Mint in 2009.

Le Brun is a former trustee of the Tate Gallery (1990-1995), the National Gallery (1996-2003) and the Dulwich Picture Gallery (2000-2005). He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1996 and in 2000 became the Academy’s first Professor of Drawing. He is currently a trustee of the Prince’s Drawing School. His work is represented in private and museum collections throughout the world including the British Museum, the Tate, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.