Emma Wesley

Emma Wesley (b.1979) is an award-winning portrait painter who lives and works in London.

Self-taught as an artist, she studied English Literature at Cambridge and Painting Conservation at the Courtauld Institute of Art before beginning a career as a portrait painter in 2003.

Emma undertakes commissions ranging from small head studies to large group portraits, but particularly likes painting people in their workplaces, surrounded by the tools of their trade, or by objects which symbolise the work they do. Over the years, she has painted a diverse range of subjects including antique dealers, academics, butchers, cricketers, soldiers, surgeons and violin-makers...

Emma has exhibited widely throughout her career, and has shown paintings regularly in the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery. In 2007, Emma was elected a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and has twice been awarded the De Laszlo Silver Medal for Portraiture by the Society.

Emma has works in many private and public collections, including The National Portrait Gallery, The Royal Society, The Inner Temple, The MCC, The Royal Welch Fusiliers, All Souls College, Oxford, Christ's College, St John's College, Girton College and Jesus College, Cambridge, The University of East Anglia, The University of South Wales and Rugby School.

She has also worked with film director Wes Anderson on the cover designs for the Criterion re-release of 'The Grand Budapest Hotel,' and has painted portraits to feature in his film ‘Asteroid City’ and his upcoming Roald Dahl adaptation ‘The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.’