Mark King

Mark King, a passionate champion of Impressionism and the Ecole de Paris, was born in Bombay in 1931 to British parents. He spent his formative years in India during the final days of the British Raj, an exotic upbringing that would profoundly influence his artistic vision. After graduating from La Martiniere College in Calcutta in 1948, where he studied both botany and art, King sailed to England to attend Bournemouth College of Art. He later spent seven years as resident scenic designer at the Oxford Playhouse Theatre before moving to Paris in 1961 to dedicate himself fully to painting, studying at the Ecole and the Louvre.
During the 1960s in Paris and Italy, King worked as a plein air painter, studying light and atmosphere like the Barbizon School and Impressionists before him. His move to the United States in 1968 prompted a shift to studio work. King draws Parisian street scenes from memory while using photography to capture sporting subjects, condensing various views into single compositions. He works primarily in acrylic, masterfully manipulating a palette knife ninety percent of the time and meticulously layering colors and glazes to create depth and texture.
King’s subjects range from familiar Paris monuments to animated depictions of polo, fox hunts, ice hockey, and horse racing, all reflecting his passion for sports and the outdoors. His childhood in India inspired his fascination with elephants, camels, tigers, and botanical elements that appear throughout his work. Represented by Park West Gallery, King has achieved superb mastery of color and texture in the full maturity of his career.