Biography

Born in London, Weight studied at Hammersmith College of Art from 1926-9. Although he then won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art (RCA), he was unable to afford the fees so instead attended Goldsmith’s College of Art part-time. In 1932 Weight began teaching. Then after enlistment in 1942, and serving as an official war artist from 1945-6, he joined the staff at the RCA in 1947. Ten years later he was appointed Professor of Painting, a post he held from 1957-73. While Weight’s paintings are characterised by strange landscapes and often exaggerated and distorted forms, his work is firmly rooted in personal experience and universal human emotions: “My art is concerned with such things as anger, love, hate, fear and loneliness emphasised by the setting in which the drama is played.”