Early life and career
Michael Craig-Martin was born in Dublin, but spent most of his childhood in Washington, D.C.[6][7] He attended for eight years a Roman Catholic school which was run by nuns, followed by the English Benedictine Priory School (now St. Anselm's Abbey School), where pupils were encouraged to look at religious imagery in illuminated glass panels and stained-glass windows.[8] He gained an interest in art through one of the priests, who was an artist, and was also strongly impressed by a display in the Phillips Collection of work by Mark Rothko.[8]
Craig-Martin studied in the Lycée Français in Bogotá, Colombia, where his father had employment for a while. Drawing classes in the Lycée by an artist, Antonio Roda, gave him a wider perspective on art.[8] His parents had no inclinations towards art, although they did have on display in their home Picasso's Greedy Child.[9][10][verification needed] Back in Washington, he attended drawing classes given there by artists, then in 1959 attended Fordham University in New York for English Literature and History, while also starting to paint.[9]
In mid-1961[11] Craig-Martin studied art at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, and in the autumn he began a painting course at Yale University, where the teaching was strongly influenced by the multi-disciplinary experimentation and minimalist theories on colour and form of Josef Albers, a former head of department. Craig-Martin later said,[citation needed] "Everything I know about colour comes from that course". Tutors on the course included artists Alex Katz and Al Held.[9]
Explanation:
