Painter, novelist and teacher. Born in London, Bratby studied at the Kingston College of Art (1948-50) and later at the Royal College of Art (1951-4), where he was awarded a bursary to travel in Italy. On graduating from the Royal College of Art, he rose to instant fame with his unadulterated view of ordinary domestic life and was soon regarded as the leading light of what came to be known as the "Kitchen Sink Painters' (including Jack Smith, Edward Middleditch and Derrick Greaves)
His first solo exhibition was held at the Beaux Art Gallery in 1954, where he exhibited regularly and in 1956 he was chosen to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale.
Bratby taught for two brief periods, first at Carlisle College of Art (1956) and then at the Royal College of Art in London (1957-8). In 1991 the National Portrait Gallery held a retrospective. He exhibited with the Mayor Gallery, the Albemarle Gallery and the Catto Gallery and was elected RA in 1971.
His interest and concern with social realism and his use of a bright colourful palette set him apart from his peers, who shared his desire to depict the banality of a working-class life. A highly skilled draughtsman, Bratby used the everyday and whatever he found around him for his subject matter and his scenes of pinched domesticity had a huge impact on the public. His passion for the plastic qualities of paint and achieving expressionistic impasto effects linked him with artists such as Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff.
His work is held in many prestigious public and private collections throughout the world.