Castlegate House Gallery 20th Century British & Contemporary Art
Bill Peascod Discoveries
7th May to 28th May, 2022
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Bill Peascod - Discoveries
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orn in Maryport in 1920, Bill Peascod’s story is truly fascinating, one that saw him regarded as a highly talented artist, climber and engineer and one that took him to the other side of the world and back. It’s a story Bill himself committed to print, with his autobiography Journey After Dawn. It’s also one very recently put to film, with Steve Wharton’s wonderful production, At Home in the Steep Places. We’ve long-known Bill’s works, having placed many examples with new owners over the last decade. They’re generally very difficult to come by; few ever appear in auction sale rooms and those private collectors who hold them tend to want to keep hold of them. The lure is multi-fronted; there are those
Front cover: Left: Back cover:
who admire his artistic skill, from the pure inventiveness of his Australian 1960s more abstract paintings through to the more familiar works of the fells on his return to his native Cumbria in 1980. There are also those that recognise his climbing exploits and recognise the climbing world put to paint; Bill became one of the UK’s most respected climbers, a passion he developed as a young man prior to his 28-year engineering and artistic foray to Australia. The fells and mountains were to become a huge draw to a young Bill, to climb them, ultimately taking on some of the most difficult vertical climb routes available. Moving to Australia as a mining engineer, it was to be 28 years before he moved back to his beloved Cumbria. It was during
Rising Ridge, 1984, (detail), 12.5cm x 10cm The Escarpment, Feb 1963, (detail), 137cm x 91cm Earth Turn, 1967, (detail), 138cm x 122.5cm
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those years that Bill Peascod further pursued his love of painting, becoming a well-known and highly respected artist in the Australian art scene of the 60s and 70s. His work of the Australian era is typified by true 1960s inventiveness. Often semi-abstract large paintings, almost sculptural, including plaster with the paint, burning the surface with a blow torch to mirror the scorched landscape around him. Once back in Cumbria, Bill’s work became more reflective of the fells and landscape he was now back within, often featuring crags and rockfaces he knew intimately as a climber. Despite notable artistic success in Australia, with exhibitions in Sydney, Brisbane and Mebourne, Bill’s return to Cumbria in 1980 was born of a deep-seated desire to reconnect with his roots, the familiar fells he knew as both climber and artist. A county is more than just its geography, a county is about how its residents and visitors respond to that geography, and,
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importantly, to and with each other. Bill Peascod cared passionately about both Australia and Cumbria, but with the latter being an ever-present force even when living for all those years in Australia, a force he was ultimately pulled back to. Tragically Bill died of a heart attack in 1985 whilst climbing, just five years after his return to the UK. He left behind a wonderfully inventive and varied body of work. We’ve been exceptionally fortunate to have been given the opportunity to acquire all but one of the works in this small but focused exhibition from one private source. All of the works had been gifted or acquired by close friends of Bill’s, remaining with the couple for almost 40 years. We’re very proud to be able to share them with you now and for others to carry the baton of enjoyment on for perhaps another forty years. Steve and Christine Swallow
Above: Bill Peascod in his studio in Australia Right: Tablet I, February 1969, 74cm x 61cm
Above: Earth, December 1969, 11.75cm x 9.5cm Left: Earth Turn, 1967, 138cm x 122.5cm
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Above: The Escarpment, February 1963, 137cm x 91cm Right: Landscape, April 1967, 92cm x 76cm
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Dark Sky, December 1968, 14cm x 9.5cm
Black night landscape, December 1968, 14cm x 9.5cm
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Earth Movement May 1965 42cm x 50.5cm
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Fells Winter, 12.5cm x 10cm
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Outcrop, December 1981, 13.5cm x 10cm
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Outline, January 1972, 14.5cm x 21.5cm
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Five Haiku Poems, March 1973, 17cm x 26cm
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Rising Ridge, Christmas 1984, 12.5cm x 10cm
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Snow Caps, Christmas 1983, 10cm x 11.5cm
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Castlegate House Gallery, Cockermouth, Cumbria, CA13 9HA www.castlegatehouse.co.uk
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thegallery@castlegatehouse.co.uk 01900 822149 or 07920 836 874