Attributed to John Edwards, it does not have a COA. Medium: acrylic cardboard, 26 x 21 inches. Provenance: private owner. Biography: 1938 - 2009. The abstract painter and sculptor John Edwards, who has died aged 71, was a rising star on the British art scene in the late 1960s and 70s. Long acknowledged as one of Britain's leading abstract artists, he also enjoyed acclaim in the US and India. He was a talented teacher and served as head of painting and sculpture at St Martin's School of Art, London, in the 1980s. After retiring from teaching, he maintained a prodigious output of paintings and sculptures over the next 20 years, and showed work regularly in exhibitions in London and abroad.Born in London, Edwards grew up in Hornsey. He studied at Hornsey College of Art, Crouch End, north London, and did further studies at Leeds University's Institute of Education and at l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels, Brussels. He also taught at the School of Visual Arts, in New York City, at Syracuse University, New York state, and at the Painting School of Montmiral, in Drôme, south-east France. The Rowan Gallery in London gave him nine shows from 1967 to 1981, and he also had shows in Syracuse, Washington, San Francisco, Turin, Jaipur and New Delhi.Edwards was also a dedicated sculptor. His work in both mediums appeared in many British group shows in Warsaw, Amsterdam, Madrid, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and a British Council show in Tokyo, among others. His works can also be found in collections of the Arts Council of Great Britain, the British Council, the Contemporary Art Society, the European parliament, the Gulbenkian Foundation, the Power Institute of Fine Arts in Sydney and the Guggenheim.His forms were influenced by the jazzy, improvisational techniques of the abstract expressionist painters who came into favour in New York after the second world war. But his paintings had an architecture that resembled sculptural forms and, conversely, his sculptures had a painterly touch, often light and airy. The curator and critic Jill Lloyd observed: "The power and vitality of the work has much to do with an interplay of opposing forces. Edwards's art is reductive; abstract language of forms is counterbalanced by the artist's emotive and lyrical sense of colour."Edwards was thoroughly contemporary, embracing the visual ideas of his time, then synthesising them into his work. His forms were abstract and his colours bold and vibrant, but his work was not easily grouped with any one movement.In the last decade of his life, he spent more and more time in India, particularly Jaipur, which he considered his spiritual home. This sustained him through the lean years as an artist. When the London shows dried up, Edwards continued to work, anticipating a time when he would show again. His travels to India allowed him to escape the pressures of London and introduced him to a new culture ready to embrace his palette, shapes and ideas. India, its colours and shapes, its crowds and democratic vistas, was the abiding influence of his last paintings. In turn, his work enjoyed a second life, with major shows and wide coverage in the Indian press.Edwards liked to tell the story of growing up during the blitz, and how his family's home was destroyed by a bomb. The family escaped, only to realise that toddler John was still in the ruins. They eventually found him amid the rubble, chipper and none the worse for wear. In many respects, that story resonated throughout his life. He was tough, good-humoured and resilient.Edwards was twice married and divorced. All authorship of items in this catalog are described according to the following terms: Signed [Artist Name] : In cases in which the signature is legible in the lot, this work is described as-is with no attributions given. By [Artist Name] : The work is by the artist. Attributed to [Artist Name] : The work may be ascribed to the artist on the basis of style, but there may be some question as to actual authorship. In the manner of [Artist Name] : The work was executed by an unknown hand, but was designed deliberately to emulate the style of the artist. After [Artist Name] : The work was executed by an unknown hand, but is a deliberate copy of a known work by the artist. Circle of [Artist Name] : A work of the period of the artist showing his influence, closely associated with the artist but not necessarily his pupil. Follower of [Artist Name]: A work by a pupil or a follower of the artist (not necessarily a pupil). American, 19th century: This work was executed by an unknown hand, and can only be identified by origin (i.e., region, period).