Last updated: 28 October 2026
Joseph Black is the Kent-based artist behind still, finely detailed oil paintings of horses and dried flowers. Here you will find our take on his work, where to see Joseph Black now, the small paintings you can buy, and his pair of sunflower panels in this year’s War Child auction.
Our take on Joseph Black
Black paints two main subjects: horses and dried flowers. He paints them in fine, smooth oil on panel and aluminium, often against a plain ground with no horizon. The flowers are cropped so tightly that they verge on abstraction. “In these works I seek to shift away from botanical illustration and allow the plants to become more archetypal voices of matter and memory, as witnesses of order and decay,” he wrote for his 2025 solo show at Jonathan Cooper.
His War Child pieces, Sow and Reap, are a pair in oil on panel. Each shows the back of a dried sunflower head on a flat, tan ground. In Sow, the flower is cut off by the right edge, in rusty browns and dark olive green. In Reap, it is cut off by the left edge, in brighter orange, with a furry green stem running down to the bottom. Hung side by side, the two halves almost meet.
There is a practical point for buyers here. His small panels at Jonathan Cooper cost £2,500 to £3,200, so these two lots start well below his gallery prices. As he put it for his 2021 show Balance, “The relationship between people and nature, and in particular between animals and their depictions in art, has always been the main focus of my work” (Jonathan Cooper).
Joseph Black: the essentials
- Lives and works in Kent, according to Jonathan Cooper.
- Graduated from Camberwell College of Arts with a BA in Painting in 2015, then took an MA in the History of Art at the Courtauld Institute in 2016.
- Has had two solo shows at Jonathan Cooper in Chelsea: Balance in 2021 and Fragments and Form in 2025.
- Showed in the Turner Contemporary Open in Margate in 2021.
- Took part in Illuminated, the first summer exhibition run by AOAP Projects and the Royal Society of Arts, in June 2026.
- His artist’s CV lists works in the collections of Hermès, Paris, and the Household Cavalry, London.
- Represented by Jonathan Cooper, London.
Where to see Joseph Black now
- Coming up: Sound & Vision 2026, a War Child charity auction online from 27 October to 12 November 2026, with the works on view at Iconic Images Gallery, London, 6 to 8 November. The pieces are Sow (2026), oil on panel, 15 x 21 cm (5.9 x 8.3 in), lot page, and Reap (2026), oil on panel, 15 x 21 cm (5.9 x 8.3 in), lot page.
- Illuminated (group), AOAP Projects x Royal Society of Arts, RSA House, London, 10 to 24 June 2026.
- Joseph Black: Fragments and Form (solo), Jonathan Cooper, London, 3 to 20 December 2025.
- Gardens, Flowers & Landscapes (group), Jonathan Cooper, London, 9 April to 3 May 2025.
- Joseph Black: Balance (solo), Jonathan Cooper, London, 1 to 29 May 2021.
How to buy a Joseph Black painting
Joseph Black does not make prints, but several small originals are on sale in the UK at the moment:
- Raceme and Scape, 2026: two oils on aluminium, each 13 x 13 cm (5.1 x 5.1 in), £1,000 each from AOAP Projects, in the shop for the Illuminated summer show.
- Passage (Study I), 2025: oil sanguine on paper, 56 x 38 cm (22 x 15 in), £1,200 from Jonathan Cooper.
- Passage, 2025: oil on aluminium, 20 x 15 cm (7.9 x 5.9 in), £3,200 from Jonathan Cooper.
- Sow and Reap, 2026: two small oils on panel in the War Child Sound & Vision auction, bidding from £100 until 12 November 2026 (bid on Sow here and Reap here).
- Larger paintings: through Jonathan Cooper, from £6,500 for his 20 x 40 cm (7.9 x 15.7 in) paintings on aluminium.
Joseph Black FAQs
Which gallery represents Joseph Black?
Jonathan Cooper, in Park Walk, Chelsea.
What does Joseph Black paint?
Mainly horses and dried flowers, in finely detailed oil on panel or aluminium, often against a plain coloured ground.
How much does a Joseph Black painting cost?
His small works start at £1,000 at AOAP Projects. At Jonathan Cooper, works on paper start at £1,200 and paintings run from £2,500 to £7,000.
Where can I see Joseph Black’s work in London?
Sow and Reap are on view at Iconic Images Gallery from 6 to 8 November 2026. Jonathan Cooper in Chelsea also shows his work.
More from CoolCuration
- British Art Fair review: more British painting to buy, at the Saatchi Gallery.
- Best affordable art in the UK: prints and originals under £500.
- Art on a Postcard: another charity art sale where small works by big names go for less.
- Gifts for artists: our edit of presents for people who make things.
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Main image: Joseph Black at work. Courtesy Jonathan Cooper. Cropped and framed by CoolCuration. Exhibition dates, prices, auction results and market figures last checked: 28 October 2026.
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