Michael Howard is an artist, lecturer, and a writer of art books, plays and poems. As an artist he is passionate about drawing - responding to his immediate surroundings in tiny sketchbooks. His ambition regarding his paintings and his hand-crafted artist’s books is simple - to give pleasure. On occasion, he works with his friend, the artist Alastair Noble, most notably on a number of sculptural pieces celebrating the philosopher Wittgenstein’s sojourn on Chunal Moor, (1908-1911). He was also responsible for the recreation of Degas’s sculptures in the award-winning film Degas and the Dance. Examples of Michael’s paintings, artist’s books and sketchbooks have been exhibited in the UK and abroad. As a writer he has authored over twenty books on the history of art including L.S. Lowry  - A Visionary Artist, An Evening at the Cabaret Voltaire, Ghislaine Howard: the Human Touch and many books on the Impressionists, including Monet, written in association with the Musée Marmottan, Paris, and Gauguin, in association with the Gauguin Museum, Tahiti. He is currently working on Walking on Fire, a major publication on the Wigan born artist, Theodore Major, (1908-1999).