The Distinctive Eye: Singular Voices in British Painting
Curated by Mary Jane Ansell
Panter & Hall, London | 11–21 November 2025
This exhibition brings together over thirty works by some of the most accomplished contemporary British painters working today, including Miriam Escofet, Philip Harris, Andrew Tift, Stuart Pearson Wright Anastasia Pollard, Jennifer Anderson, Francis Bell and Carl Randall. My goal in curating this show is to celebrate artists whose work is defined by a singular vision — painters whose commitment to their craft, depth of thought, and mastery of paint make their work instantly recognisable. Together, they offer a vivid snapshot of British figurative and portrait painting at its most thoughtful, humane, and distinctive.
THE DISTINCTIVE EYE: SINGULAR VOICES IN BRITISH PAINTING
11 - 21 NOVEMBER IN PALL MALL
Curating this exhibition has been an immense privilege and a joy. Each of the artists gathered here possesses a voice that is entirely their own — a visual language both individual and finely honed making their work instantly recognisable.
While their approaches may differ, they are each united by a devotion to their practice, to capturing their authentic, often deeply personal human experience through the storytelling power of paint. Each has refined an exquisite technical mastery that takes years — often decades — to achieve.
These are not artists who follow fashion or align themselves with movements. Each is a unique sum of influences, passions, and fascinations — they explore the humane, the profound, and the quotidian, continuing a conversation through history to the great works of the past, through the artists that have inspired them, and tracing a line between the timeless and the contemporary.
At a time when our world is saturated with an ever-expanding flood of visual imagery, it feels especially important to pause and celebrate what cannot be replicated. Each painting here is the product of a single, irreplaceable mind and hand — a lifetime of looking, questioning, feeling, and refining.
These paintings remind us how precious it is to encounter something made with care, intellect, and heart. They reaffirm our faith in the enduring power of the human imagination — in the quirks, foibles, and singular fascinations that define each artist — and in the distinctive eye that makes every work here uniquely and unmistakably their own.
— Mary Jane Ansell
PALL MALL GALLERY
21-22 Pall Mall
London
SW1Y 5LP
Monday to Friday: 10AM - 6PM
Saturdays: 11AM - 2PM
Closed bank holidays
+44 (0)20 7399 9999
enquiries@panterandhall.com
If you are interested in any of the included works please contact myself or the gallery - all works are available to view here or in the E Catalogue.
