Football Emporium

Liverpool - Shankly's Red Army
Limited Edition of 500
Image Size: 483mm x 400mm 
Larger image is watermarked to protect intellectual property. Watermark will not be on the print you will receive.
Each print is individually numbered and signed by the artist, and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity which is also signed by the artist.
 
From the early seventies right through to the eighties British, indeed, European football was, arguably, dominated by Liverpool Football Club. In these superbly works of art, in conjunction with the Club, supreme portrait artist, Peter Deighan has captured the stars and their managers that helped keep the Club at the forefront of the game. In the first, 'Shanks' is accompanied by the starts of the sixties and seventies, Yeats, St John, Hunt, Smith, Heighway, Keegan, Hughes etc. etc. 
Published in a worldwide limited edition of 500, each print has been personally signed and numbered by the Artist and Steve Heighway.
 
Peter Deighan - Biography
The internationally renowned artist Peter Deighan was born in the county town of Monaghan, Ireland in 1941.  He was the third youngest of six children.  It was while helping out on his uncle’s farm as a young lad he developed an affinity with horses, which has remained with him through his adult life.
As a 16-year-old Peter left Ireland to work in England and got a job as a trainee welder at Vauxhall Motor’s car plant in Luton, Bedfordshire.  This work did little to satisfy his emerging creative talent.  However, during this time Peter won an amateur art competition and was offered a scholarship at the Slade College of Art in London.  
Peter’s raw artistic talent was quickly recognised and he began to receive commissions, including one from the Duke of Bedford.  Peter held his first one-man exhibition in the Duke’s stately home, Woburn Abbey.  Among his earlier commissions were portraits of the comedian Eric Morecambe, footballer Jimmy Greaves, speaker of the house of Commons Selwyn Lloyd and Cardinal Basil Hume Archbishop of Westminister.
Following the unqualified success of his one-man show, Peter traded in his welding gear for brushes and oils and became a full time artist, devoting all his energies and creativity to his main passion in life, painting.  He was also able to combine his love of painting with his passion for horses.  
Peter quickly established a reputation as one of the world’s leading equestrian artists.  He received commissions from prominent members of the racing fraternity, including Dr and Mrs Vincent O’Brien, Mr and Mrs JP McManus, Mr and Mrs Robert Sangster, Captain and Mrs John MacDonald-Buchanan, and Sheikh Mohammed Al-Maktoum.  
So impressed were his patrons that they also commissioned Peter to paint their close family members.  Among those who now hang a Deighan family portrait in their homes are the McManus, the Magnier and the Sangster families.  
Besides the equine paintings Peter continued to receive commissions for a wide range of subjects, which has resulted in him producing some outstanding works.  
Some of his more noteworthy portraits were of Peadar O’Donnell, Sean McBride, Charles J Haughey and Michael O’Hehir.
Knowing that his greatest portraits are achieved when he is emotionally involved, Peter makes great endeavours to become closely acquainted with the personality of his subjects.  This ability to convey such depth of character can be clearly seen in his work.  
Peter also painted the official portrait of the British Prime Minster John Major, thriller writer Frederick Forsyth (after meeting him on the Gay Byrnes Late Late Show in Dublin), footballer Jimmy Greaves, snooker champion Steve Davis and boxer Barry McGuigan.  He has had his paintings displayed in the annual exhibitions of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the Society of Equestrian Artists in London.
Being such a talented and versatile painter, Peter turned his attention to some of his other interests in life.  Following visits to southern Africa he painted a series of wildlife studies. His paintings of the indigenous population were particularly evocative.  
As Peter’s reputation as one of the worlds leading portrait painters grew, he began to receive commissions from North America.  His most notable patrons included Payne Stewart.  Peter visited Payne Stewart’s home in Florida to paint a family group portrait.  It was during his visit to Florida that Peter met and was commissioned to paint Tiger Woods and Mark O’Meara.   Shortly after the tragic death of Payne Stewart,  one of Peter’s portraits of the golfer fetched £1.4 million at a JP McManus Charity auction. 
In 2005 Peter’s painting of the Irish Ryder Cup players, a painting of Tiger Woods and Mark O’Meara were sold for similar sums at auction.  Peter was commissioned to paint the 2006 European Ryder Cup players by Dr Michael Smurfit, for the K Club.
The artist has an uncanny ability to get under the skin of his subjects.  He then translates the essence of their personality and character, – be it a person or a race horse, - onto canvas.  
Peter’s ability to empathise with his subjects is seen in both his human portraits and his equine studies.  By capturing the essence of his subjects he is able to create a remarkable stillness and sensitivity of feeling.  Peter’s success as a portrait painter stems from his capacity to convey the personality of his subject through the medium of oils. 
The natural talent, combined with his sense of dedication and innate sensitivity, are the perfect ingredients for his outstanding works of art that even the masters of old would be proud of.