St Ives Exhibition 2020

St Ives 2020

St Ives Exhibition 2020

It is 22 years since the Belgrave Gallery (established London 1974) opened a second gallery in St Ives to specialize in showing the work of artists associated with Cornwall from 1930s to the present day. Following the inaugural exhibition in 1999 St Ives – The Modern Movement the gallery has presented an annual exhibition of accessible paintings, prints, drawings and sculpture by the leading artists of this period alongside less well known but interesting artists working at the same time.

St Ives Exhibition 2020 is the largest exhibition to date with over 100 works by 50 artists. The show brings together work by W Barns-Graham, Terry Frost, Roger Hilton, Peter Lanyon, Ben Nicholson, etc., with work by John Barnicoat, Bob Bourne, Jeffrey Harris, Inez Hoyton, etc., all of whom have made valuable contributions to the legacy of St Ives post-War art.

With thanks to Peter Davies for the use of his introduction to the 1999 catalogue published by Belgrave Gallery.

Michael Gaca Feb 2020

ISBN 978-1-9998524-2-9

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W. BARNS-GRAHAm Grey Form on Blue / 1954

Gouache on paper / 32 x 52 cm Provenance: The Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust

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TREVoR BELL In and Around / 1959

oil on board / 29 x 23 cm Signed, titled and dated on reverse

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BoB CRoSSLEY Untitled (Still Life–String, Paint Pots and a Brush) / 1960

oil on board / 37 x 58 cm Signed and dated

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TERRY FRoST Green Dipper Collage / 2002

Canvas collage and acrylic / 26 x 26 cm Signed and dated Signed and titled on reverse Provenance: Private Collection

TERRY FRoST Spiral Sun / c1990s

mixed media and collage / 19 x 19 cm Frost Estate Stamp Countersigned by Anthony Frost

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Peter Lanyon 1918–1964

Peter Lanyon was educated at St Erbyn's School, Penzance and Clifton College. He studied under Borlase Smart in 1936 and in 1936–37, Penzance School of Art. In 1937, he met Adrian Stokes who helped introduce him to contemporary painting and sculpture, and who advised him to go to the Euston Road School. In 1938 Lanyon studied there for four months under Victor Pasmore, before meeting Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Naum Gabo who had moved to St Ives on the outbreak of war. He received private art tuition from Ben Nicholson. As a result, the character of his work changed considerably. He learned to think abstractly in terms of shape and space while still relating ideas to landscape.

Lanyon chose to make more direct reference to the local landscape than Gabo or Hepworth. Visual and structural information concerning the Cornish fishing harbour of St Ives was combined with figurative suggestion in the final painting. He talked about exploring vertiginous edges such as ‘the junction of sea and cliff, wind and cliff, the human body and places’, and in 1959 began gliding. The tactile surfaces and compact, enclosed forms of his work of the early 1950s began to expand into a new flowing style on an increased scale, encouraged by his knowledge of Abstract Expressionism. Lanyon had solo exhibitions at a number of galleries including Gimpel Fils gallery in 2003 and Tate St. Ives in 2011.

Selected bibliography: Peter Lanyon, Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings and Three-Dimensional Works, Toby Treves, modern Art Press, 2018.

PETER LANYoN Standing Stones / 1951

Lithograph / 45 x 28 cm (image) Sheet: 52.5 x 38 cm Signed and dated Registration Proof

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mARGo mAECKELBERGHE Towards Nancledra, Cornwall

oil on board / 44 x 62.5 cm Signed

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Simon Nicholson 1934–1990

Born London, studied sculpture at the Royal College of Art and archaeology and anthropology at Trinity College, Cambridge. Lived and worked in St Ives in the early 1960s before moving to USA to teach. Whilst living there Nicholson had solo exhibitions in San Francisco and Pittsburgh. He returned to the UK in 1971 and was an open University Lecturer until 1989. He became chairman of the Art and Environment: Interactive Art and Play an innovative course at oU. The course combined Nicholson’s dual interests of education in open, interactive environments and urban planning.

Working primarily in collage and utilising everyday found objects, Nicholson constructed formal systems both aesthetically pleasing and psychologically stimulating. other one-person exhibitions included mcRoberts and Tunnard Gallery 1964, York University 1978, Retrospective Exhibition Falmouth College of Arts and Dartington Hall 1999. Wills Lane Gallery, St Ives held examples of Nicholson’s work and he was included many group exhibitions (see references below for further details).

Nicholson’s published essay, Theory of Loose Parts, 1971, explored his conviction that every human being could and should share his delight in discovery and invention resulting in a more humane environment. “There is evidence that all children love to interact with variables such as materials and shapes; smells and other physical phenomena, such as electricity, magnetism and gravity; media such as gases and fluids; sounds, music and motion; chemical interactions, cooking and fire; other people, and animals, plants, words, concepts and ideas. With all these things all children love to play, experiment, discover and invent and have fun. All these things have one thing in common, which is variables or ‘loose parts’”.This paper, published in a Landscape Architecture journal was to have a profound impact on many childcare professionals and environmental educators.

Selected bibliography: Cecile N. mcCann The meticulously devised constructions of Simon Nicholson published by Westart (1968). Sir Alan Bowness/David Brown St Ives 1939–1964 Twenty-Five Years of painting, sculpture and pottery published by Tate Gallery Publications (1985).

SImoN NICHoLSoN 6340 / october 1963

Paint, Board and Card / 122 x 120 x 39 cm Signed and titled on reverse

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