Mike Francis 9 th May 1938 – 1 st June 2023
After spending his early life as one of London’s most talented illustrators Mike won the 1974 National Portrait Gallery’s 150 th Anniversary Poster Competition as the only contemporary painter to have ever won it. This was the catalyst that inspired Mike to become a freelance artist in his own right. He spent the next 15 years with the Nicolas Treadwell Gallery, pioneering the Superhumanist Art Movement in London and showing his paintings all over the world with a significant collector’s list. Throughout the 1990’s and 2000’s Mike continued to exhibit with Whitford Fine Art in Jermyn Street, Messums in Cork Street, Panter and Hall in Pall Mall and Plus One Gallery in Chelsea to secure his status as one of the country’s principle realist painters of the 20th and 21st Centuries.
He continued to paint up until the final year of his life, producing over 5000 works, principally Oil and Acrylic paintings on Canvas. His style is highly recognisable, fusing his skills as a commercial illustrator to build narrative representations of various lived characters, dreams, places and feelings.
With Mike’s passing recently, there is now the unique opportunity to own a Limited Edition Hanemuhle Fine Art print of some of his most popular works.
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The White Horse
I learned of Mike's history of growing up as an artist in Soho from his son Joe. I have lived in the area all my life and was amazed to see an artist use my locale as a backdrop. This particular painting fuses Mike's ability to create a dream like montage of the markets in the area alongside the theatres in Soho. Everytime I look at it it reminds me of where I grow up and still live. A masterpiece.
— Peter Jackson
Time Ladies, Gents and Dogs Please
Being a native Londoner and growing up in Covent Garden and Soho, I've always been fascinated with Mike's paintings of the area. This particular painting captures the essence of a London Pub, with its atmosphere and range of assorted characters (particularly the dogs!). It reminds me of the drinking dens in that area and to see it with the mercurial London landmark of Big Ben composed in the background makes me reminisce about my home town. Although an imagined piece, it is very powerfully familiar. The painting has totally changed the room where it hangs proudly. I shall be buying more of Mike's seminal London artworks, particularly those related to where I grew up.
— Johnnie Jackson
Spot the Dog
I was drawn to Mike's beautiful painting by its hope and vitality. Everytime I look at the painting it makes me happy, with its bright warm colours capturing a summers day at the beach. The windbreakers are also a poignant reminder of childhood days at the beach with my mum. The composition is made more intriguing with the dogs - I'd loved to have asked Mike what his fascination were with them as they seem to appear in a number of similar paintings. I intend to make a Mike Francis collection over the coming years - he was such a talented artist. The painting has totally changed the mood in my recently refurbed bathroom.
— Lorraine Nuille
Rupert Street Boy
I was introduced to Mike's work by a close friend in the transport industry, and after viewing a number of Mike's paintings, was drawn to this rendition of the market scene from 1960's Soho. The atmosphere he has created reflects the hustle and bustle from that part of London, and to learn that Mike worked there and took the personal photographs of all of the characters really sings of its authenticity as a work of art. The palette of colours he has used and the detail in the characters reminds me of spending my time at various markets in London as a boy. The painting has added so much to a rather dull space in my hallway. I shall be making another purchase of Mike's work very soon - as they have provided a real talking point when visitors see his artwork.
— Dominic
"This is the beauty of Francis's works - they blur the boundary between the real and imagined to the point where they become indistinguishable."
— Jamie Welham review of Mike's show at Messums 2007
"People used to say, what's the point in a painting that looks like a photo. No one was doing what I was doing. They preferred to paint with mud. They just didn't get it"
— Mike Francis
Soho is ordinarily a dream world, but Francis provides a passage into a hazy hinterland that us mere mortals just don't see. Ghosts from another time reawakened on canvas. Put simply Mike Francis is photorealism - he is the man and the movement.
— Jamie Welham review of Mike's show at Panther and Hall 2010
