The Artists of St Ives by Alan Wheatley

THE ARTISTS OF ST IVES 1 – 25 June 2021

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 22 Mason’s Yard T: +44 (0)20 7930 1262

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The Artists of St Ives

The town of St. Ives, a historic fishing village in Cornwall, its rolling hills, rocky shores, quaint homes, sandy beaches and clear waters have attracted rugged dreamers as far back as 1312 when The Sloop Inn, the first local pub, opened for business. In addition to good surfing and excellent fishing, there has always been something extraordinary about the light in St. Ives. That is what began attracting painters to the area in the 1800s, when Impressionism and plein air painting were the rage. In 1877, when the Great Western Railway extended to St. Ives, and it became an even simple matter to travel there, so many more artists started to come. They painted replications of the cliffs, the sea, the boats, the village, and the hard-working villagers bathed in that mysterious St. Ives light. In the mid-20th Century, for a couple of decades, this sleepy fishing village of St. Ives joined Paris, New York, and the other world capitals to become a global epicenter of Modern and abstract art. Ben Nicholson had first visited St Ives during the 1920s with his first wife Winifred. It was here that he and Christopher Wood ‘discovered’ the work of local fisherman Alfred Wallis. They were both delighted and inspired by his naïve seascapes. Nicholson would return to St Ives during the Second World War, this time with his second wife Barbara Hepworth and the Russian sculptor Naum Gabo. Here their reductive style of abstraction found sympathy with other painters: Peter Lanyon, John Wells and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham. During the 1950s a group of painters gathered around St Ives and formed the nucleus of avant-garde art in Britain. Among them there were some of the leading modern artists of their time: Alan Davie, Terry Frost, Patrick Heron, Roger Hilton, Peter Lanyon, William Scott, Bryan Wynter. They represented Britain's contribution to an international search for an art that respected modernism's abstract values and was suited to the post-war world and explored the sensitive zone between representation and abstraction. They translated the experiences and sensations surrounding them into pure painting or sculpture. Many works derived from the artists experience of seeing boats rocking in the harbour. Although drawing inspiration from the surroundings, the compositions were guided principally by the response to the expressive qualities of the materials, colour and form. This was an approach that is common to works by Terry Frost, William Scott and Patrick Heron. The harbour and seawall which Patrick Heron could see from his studio window were the subjects of many of his paintings. In 1954 painters connected to the St. Ives School including Terry Frost, William Scott and Roger Hilton were included in Lawrence Alloway’s survey Nine Abstract Artists. This publication was significant for examining their work within the framework of contemporary theories of perception. It also introduced the abstract sculptures of Victor Pasmore and Robert Adams - their industrial-looking forms recalled the Constructivist style pioneered by Naum Gabo in the 1930s. Trevor Bell is widely regarded as the last of the St. Ives School Modernists.

June 2021

1 ROBERT ADAMS (British, 1917-1984) Triangular Forms & Curves (Cross) Bronzed steel 29.8 x 24 cm /11 ¾ x 9 ½ inches Conceived in c.1959 this is a unique piece

Provenance The Estate of the Artist.

2 ROBERT ADAMS (British, 1917-1984) Vertical Movement No.2 Bronzed steel Height 115.5 cm / 45 ¼ inches Opus 118 (1960/31) Conceived in 1960 this is a unique piece

Exhibited 1960, Robert Adams, Gimpel Fils, London, cat.no.28. 1971, Robert Adams - Retrospective Exhibition, City Art Gallery, Northampton (and toured by the Arts Council to Sheffield, Newcastle upon Tyne, and the Camden Arts Centre, London), cat.no.30. Literature Alastair GRIEVE. The Sculpture of Robert Adams, Henry Moore Foundation/Lund Humphries, London, 1992, cat.328, p.194, ill.p.195.

3 ROBERT ADAMS (British, 1917-1984) Cylinder Chromed steel Height 33.5 cm / 13 ¼ inches Opus 312 Conceived in 1969 this is a unique piece

Exhibited 1979, Gimpel Fils, London, cat.no.10. 1988, Gimpel Fils, London, cat.no.15. Literature Alastair GRIEVE. The Sculpture of Robert Adams, Henry Moore Foundation/Lund Humphries, London, 1992, cat.no.570, ill.p.226.

4 ROBERT ADAMS (British, 1917-1984) Square Minus Chromed steel 31 x 30.5 cm / 12 ¼ x 12 inches Signed ‘ADAMS’ and dated underneath Opus 307 (1969/3) Conceived in 1969 and cast in an edition of 3

Exhibited 1971, Robert Adams - Retrospective Exhibition, City Art Gallery, Northampton (and toured by the Arts Council to Sheffield, Newcastle upon Tyne and the Camden Arts Centre, London), cat.no.57. Literature Alastair GRIEVE. The Sculpture of Robert Adams, Henry Moore Foundation/Lund Humphries, London, 1992, cat.565, p.226.

5 TREVOR BELL (British, 1930-2017) Strata 1993 Acrylic on shaped canvas 138 x 159 cm / 54 ¼ x 62 ½ inches Signed, dated and inscribed with the title verso

Provenance Private collection, UK.

6 TREVOR BELL (British, 1930-2017) As Whites Flight 2006 Acrylic on shaped canvas 124 x 140 cm / 49 ¾ x 55 inches Signed, dated and inscribed with the title verso

Provenance Private collection, UK.

7 TREVOR BELL (British, 1930-2017) As Whites Corona 2007 Acrylic on shaped canvas 143 x 142 cm / 56 ¼ 56 inches Signed, dated and inscribed with the title verso

Provenance Private collection, UK.

8 TREVOR BELL (British, 1930-2017) As Whites Hooked 2007 Acrylic on shaped canvas 150 x 140 cm / 59 x 55 inches Signed, dated and inscribed with the title verso

Provenance Private collection, UK.

9 TREVOR BELL (British, 1930-2017) Danger 2010 Acrylic on shaped canvas 160 x 165 cm / 63 x 65 inches Signed, dated and inscribed with the title verso

Provenance Private collection, UK.

10 ALAN DAVIE (British, 1920-2014) Rabbit’s Dream 1950 Oil on masonite 60 x 70.5 cm / 23 5/8 x 27 ¾ inches Signed, dated and inscribed with the title verso

Provenance The Artist. Private collection, UK.

11 ALAN DAVIE (British, 1920-2014) Piggy Chain No.1 October 1960 Oil on canvas 101.5 x 122 cm / 40 x 48 inches Signed and dated verso Opus O.324

Provenance Gimpel Fils, London. Collection of Joseph H. Hirshorn, USA (acquired from the above in 1961). The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., USA (gifted by Joseph H. Hirshhorn in 1966). Literature Alan BOWNESS (ed.). Alan Davie, Lund Humphries, London, 1967, cat.no.274.

Although Alan Davie bought a house near Land's End in the early 1960s, he claimed that he was an outsider – emphatically ‘not part of the gang’. According to Patrick Elliott, this was no reflection of the hospitability or otherwise of the St Ives artists – Davie just didn’t tend to associate himself with any modern western artists.

12 ALAN DAVIE (British, 1920-2014) Joe’s Lucky Dip October 1961 Oil on canvas 122 x 152.5 cm / 48 x 60 inches Signed, inscribed and dated ‘Oct 1961’ verso Opus O.411

Provenance Gimpel Fils, London. Collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn (acquired from the above in November 1961). The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., USA (gifted by Joseph H. Hirshhorn in 1966). Literature Alan BOWNESS (ed.). Alan Davie, Lund Humphries, London, 1967, cat. no.351, p.121.

13 PAUL FEILER (British, 1918-2013) Square Relief XX 2009 Gouache, silver leaf, gold leaf, stainless steel and perspex on perspex 51 x 51 cm / 20 x 20 inches Signed, inscribed and dated verso

Provenance The Redfern Gallery, London.

From 2008 until his death in 2013, Paul Feiler broke new ground with a series of Square Reliefs, where the collaged composition incorporated both painted and perspex elements, before being enclosed under a Perspex frame. This was partly inspired by his amusement at the palindrome of his surname: FEILER-RELIEF, and so the use of collage, in which he cut out and overlayed vertical strips of gessoed board onto the painted surface, allow a more advanced exploration of pictorial space.

14 TERRY FROST (British, 1915-2003) Harbour (Blue) 1954 Oil on board 35.5 x 45.5 cm / 14 x 17 ¾ inches Signed, inscribed and dated verso

Provenance Private collection, UK.

15 PATRICK HERON (British, 1920-1999) Green on Blacks 1956 Oil on canvas 91 x 45.5 cm / 35 7/8 x 17 7/8 inches Signed; also signed inscribed and dated verso

Provenance Private collection, UK. Exhibitited 2016, Vibration of Space: Heron, de Staël, Hartung, Soulages, Waddington Custot, London, cat.no.4, ill. Literature Exhibition catalogue, Vibration of Space: Heron, de Staël, Hartung, Soulages, Waddington Custot, London, 2016, cat.no.4, ill.

16 PATRICK HERON (British, 1920-1999) White Vertical May 1956 Oil on canvas 92 x 45 cm / 36 ¼ x 17 ¾ inches Signed and dated ‘May 1956’

Provenance Private collection, UK. Exhibitited 2016, Vibration of Space: Heron, de Staël, Hartung, Soulages, Waddington Custot, London, cat.no.3, ill. Literature Exhibition catalogue, Vibration of Space: Heron, de Staël, Hartung, Soulages, Waddington Custot, London, 2016, cat.no.3, ill.

17 PATRICK HERON (British, 1920-1999) Interlocking Browns and Olives February 1966 Gouache on paper 57 x 78 cm / 22 ½ x 30 ¾ inches Signed and inscribed (on a label attached to the backboard)

Provenance Collection of Ronnie Duncan. Park Square Gallery, Leeds. Private collection, UK. Exhibited 1968, Patrick Heron, Bear Lane Gallery, Oxford, cat.no.22. 1972, More Love that Money, The Private Collection of Ronnie Duncan, Park Square Gallery, Leeds, cat.no.14.

18 PATRICK HERON (British, 1920-1999) Sixteen by Twenty 1977 Oil on canvas 41 x 51 cm / 16 1/8 x 20 inches Signed, inscribed and dated verso

Provenance Private collection, UK. Exhibited 2004, Patrick Heron: Paintings 1970-1984, Waddington Custot, London.

19 PATRICK HERON (British, 1920-1999) May 11 1986: II 1986 1986 Gouache on paper 32 x 47 cm / 12 ½ x 18 ½ inches

Provenance Waddington Custot, London.

20 ROGER HILTON (British, 1911-1975) Standing Nude c.1930 Oil on board 53 x 28 cm / 21 x 11 inches

Provenance John Hilton (the Artist’s brother). Exhibited 1984, Roger Hilton, The Early Years 1911-55, Leicester Polytechnic, Leicester, no.44.

21 ROGER HILTON (British, 1911-1975) Untitled 1954 Oil on wooden panel 27 x 73 cm / 10 5/8 x 28 ¾ inches

Provenance Rose Hilton, UK. Private collection, UK.

22 ROGER HILTON (British, 1911-1975) Untitled February 1955 Oil on canvas 91.4 x 76 cm / 36 x 30 inches

Provenance Waddington Galleries, London. New Art Centre, London. Literature Andrew LAMBERT. Roger Hilton - The Figured Language of Thought, Thames and Hudson, London, 2007, ill.p.96.

23 BEN NICHOLSON (British, 1894-1982) The Steamer Normand on the Seine c.1932 Pencil on paper 33 x 45 cm /13 x 17 ¾ inches Signed and dated verso

Provenance Waddington Galleries, London. Private collection, UK.

24 BEN NICHOLSON (British, 1894-1982) Racciano from Car April 1959 Pencil, watercolour and coloured crayon on card on artist’s prepared board 50 x 36 cm / 19 ¾ x 14 ¼ inches

Provenance André Emmerich Gallery, New York, USA. Private collection of Richard E. Gager, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Private collection, UK. Exhibited 1961, Ben Nicholson, André Emmerich Gallery, New York, USA, no.34. 1981, Drawings from Gallery Collections: 19th-20th Centuries, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, cat.no.67. Literature Exhibition catalogue, Ben Nicholson, André Emmerich Gallery, New York, USA, 1961, no.34, ill. M. de SAUSMAREZ (ed.). Ben Nicholson, Studio International Special, 1969, p.83, ill. Exhibition catalogue, Drawings from Gallery Collections: 19th-20th Centuries, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 1981, cat.no.67. Exhibition catalogue, Ben Nicholson, chasing out something alive, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, 2002, p.56, ill.

25 BEN NICHOLSON (British, 1894-1982) Untitled c.1979 Pen and wash on shaped paper 29.8 x 9.5 cm / 11 ¾ x 3 ¾ inches

Provenance Waddington Galleries, London. Collection of Mr and Mrs. Frank Rentsch. Private collection, UK.

26 BEN NICHOLSON (British, 1894-1982) Composition c.1979 Pen and wash on shaped paper 25 x 12 cm / 9 7/8 x 4 ¾ inches

27 BEN NICHOLSON (British, 1894-1982) Ronco 1981 Ink and wash on shaped board 59 x 64.2 cm / 23 ¼ x 25 ¼ inches

Provenance Waddington Galleries, London.

28 VICTOR PASMORE (British, 1908-1998) Linear Image 1980 Oil and gravure relief on board 76.2 x 76.2 cm / 30 x 30 inches Signed with initials

Exhibited 1980, Victor Pasmore. The Green Earth: A new painting and other recent paintings and graphics 1978-80, Marlborough Fine Art, London, no.10. Literature Exhibition catalogue, Victor Pasmore. The Green Earth: A new painting and other recent paintings and graphics 1978-80, Marlborough Fine Art, London, 1980, no.10, ill.p.12.

Beginning in 1947, Victor Pasmore developed a purely abstract style under the influence of Ben Nicholson and other artists associated with Circle1 and becoming a pioneering figure of the revival of interest in Constructivism in Britain following the Second World War.

1 Circle: International Survey of Constructivist Art was an almost 300-page art book published in London, England, in 1937. It was edited by the artists Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo and the architect Leslie Martin with the layout being designed by Barbara Hepworth. Circle was intended to be a series of publications so is sometimes referred to as a journal or magazine, although only one issue was actually produced.

29 WILLIAM SCOTT (British, 1913-1989) No.1 - Apricot, Orange and Black c.1960 Watercolour and gouache on paper 27.3 x 37.5 cm / 10 ¾ x 14 ¾ inches Signed

Provenance Private collection, UK. Exhibited 1964, Maîtres Contemporains, Galerie Anderson-Mayer, Paris, France.

30 WILLIAM SCOTT (British, 1913-1989) Untitled 1961 Gouache on paper 57.2 x 77.5 cm / 22 ½ x 30 ½ inches Signed and dated

Provenance Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, Ireland. Private collection, UK.

31 WILLIAM SCOTT (British, 1913-1989) Blue and Black Still Life 1962 Oil on canvas 86.5 x 112 cm / 34 x 44 inches

Provenance Hanover Gallery, London. Collection of Justin Knowles, UK. Private collection, UK. Collection of John Heather, UK. Collection of David Thomson, UK. Exhibited 1962, Seven British Painters, Hanover Gallery, London, cat.no.19. Literature Exhibition catalogue, Seven British Painters, Hanover Gallery, London, 1962, cat.no.19. Sarah WHITFIELD (ed.). William Scott: Catalogue Raisonné of Oil Paintings, Vol.3, Thames & Hudson, London, 2013, cat.no.493, p.110.

32 ALFRED WALLIS (British, 1895-1942) Harbour with Castle and Lighthouse c.1928 Oil and pencil on paper laid on board 13.5 x 22 cm / 5 ¼ x 8 ¾ inches Signed

Provenance Collection of H. S. (Jim Ede), UK.

33 ALFRED WALLIS (British, 1895-1942) Houses with Clock-Tower c.1928/30 Mixed media on card 15 x 26 cm / 6 x 10 ¼ inches

Provenance Collection of Prof. Joan Robinson. Literature Edwin MULLINS. Alfred Wallis, Cornish Primitive Painter, Macdonald & Co. Publishers, London, pl.27, ill.p.59.

34 ALFRED WALLIS (British, 1895-1942) Four Ships Leaving Harbour c.1928/30 Oil on cardboard 12 x 46 cm / 4 ¾ x 18 inches

Provenance Collection of Miss Kate Nicholson. The Wills Lane Gallery, St Ives. Literature The Studio Magazine, November 1966.

35 JOHN WELLS (British, 1907-2000) Paysage 1958 Oil on board 6 x 30 cm / 2 ½ x 11 ¾ inches Signed, inscribed and dated verso

Provenance Private collection, UK.

INDEX 1

Robert ADAMS

Triangular Forms & Curves

c.1959

Bronzed steel

Robert ADAMS

Vertical Movement No.2

1960

Bronzed Steel

Robert ADAMS

Cylinder

1969

Chromed steel

Robert ADAMS

Square Minus

1969

Chromed steel

Trevor BELL

Strata

1993

Acrylic on shaped on canvas

Trevor BELL

As Whites Flight

2006

Acrylic on shaped on canvas

Trevor BELL

As Whites Corona

2007

Acrylic on shaped on canvas

Trevor BELL

As Whites Hooked

2007

Acrylic on shaped on canvas

Trevor BELL

Danger

2010

Acrylic on shaped on canvas

Alan DAVIE

Rabbit ‘s Dream

1950

Oil on masonite

Alan DAVIE

Piggy Chain No.1

1960

Oil on canvas

Alan DAVIE

Joey’s Lucky Dip

1961

Oil on canvas

Paul FEILER

Square Relief XX

2009

Mixed media on perspex

Terry FROST

Harbour (Blue)

1959

Oil on board

Patrick HERON

Green on Blacks

1956

Oil on canvas

Patrick HERON

White Vertical, May

1956

Oil on canvas

Patrick HERON

Interlocking Browns and Olives

1966

Gouache on paper

Patrick HERON

Sixteen by Twenty

1977

Oil on canvas

Patrick HERON

May 11, 86

1986

Gouache on paper

Roger HILTON

Standing Nude

c.1930

Oil on board

Roger HILTON

Untitled

1954

Oil on wooden panel

Roger HILTON

Untitled

1955

Oil on canvas

Ben NICHOLSON

The Steamer Normand on the Seine

c.1932

Pencil on paper

Ben NICHOLSON

Racciano from Car

1959

Pencil, watercolour and crayon on card

Ben NICHOLSON

Untitled

c.1979

Pen and wash on shaped paper

Ben NICHOLSON

Untitled

c.1979

Pen and wash on shaped paper

Ben NICHOLSON

Ronco

1981

Ink and wash on shaped board

Victor PASMORE

Linear Image

1980

Oil and gravure relief on board

William SCOTT

No.1 – Apricot, Orange and Black

c.1960

Watercolour and gouache on paper

William SCOTT

Untitled

1961

Gouache on paper

William SCOTT

Blue and Black Still Life

1962

Oil on canvas

Alfred WALLIS

Harbour with Castle and Lighthouse

c.1928

Oil and pencil on paper laid on board

Alfred WALLIS

Houses and Clock-Tower

c.1928/30 Mixed media on card

Alfred WALLIS

Four Ships Leaving Harbour

c.1928/30 Oil on cardboard

John WELLS

Paysage

1958

Oil on board

Front cover: Paul FEILER, Square Relief XX (cat.13)

Published to accompany online exhibition The Artists of St Ives, 1 – 25 June 2021 © ALAN WHEATLEY ART, 22 Mason’s Yard, Duke Street St. James’s, London SW1Y 6BU All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without first seeking the written permission of the copyright holders and of the publisher.

Catalogue design by Iwona Chrościelewska

____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 22 Mason’s Yard T: +44 (0)20 7930 1262

Duke Street St. James’s F: +44 (0)20 7839 8043

London SW1Y 6BU E: contact@alanwheatleyart.com

United Kingdom W: alanwheatleyart.com