Bernard Dejonghe & Anthony Benjamin
ceramics, glass works on paper
3 - 25 September 2014
Front and back covers: Bernard Dejonghe Grand Biface, 2013 (detail) optical glass 41 x 30 x 23 cm BD-0019 Opposite: Anthony Benjamin Somebody Else’s Moon, 1990 pencil on paper 38 x 40 cm AB-0015
15 Royal Arcade 28 Old Bond Street London W1S 4SP +44 (0) 20 7491 1706 mail@erskinehallcoe.com www.erskinehallcoe.com
This exhibition brings together two artists that work in different media but share a common mastery of form, light and space. The ceramics and glass of Bernard Dejonghe (b.1942) merge the primitive and cerebral, and are rooted in his travels throughout North Africa. The drawings by Anthony Benjamin (1931-2002) date from a period when he set aside the vibrant colours of his earlier paintings and prints and took up soft pencils on fine linen paper.
“My forms are never narrative. I do not want them to symbolise anything. It’s an unusual thing in our culture that everything must have meaning. Maybe it is by this lack of meaning that they are meaningful.” Bernard Dejonghe
“To rationalise my own work is easy, but I don’t want to rationalise it, for in rationalising it one seems to be led by what seems rational.” Anthony Benjamin
Opposite: Bernard Dejonghe Forme Noire, 2010 stoneware 53.7 x 49.8 x 34.5 cm BD-0009
Anthony Benjamin Magic Swirlin’ Ship, 1989 pencil on paper 113 x 143 cm AB-0003
Bernard Dejonghe Forme Sombre, 2012 stoneware 21.5 x 32.8 x 20.5 cm BD-0006
Forme Noire, 2012 stoneware 29 x 45 x 22 cm BD-0005
Bernard Dejonghe Forme Noire, 2011 stoneware 21 x 22 x 21 cm BD-0011
Boli Noir, 2012 stoneware 27 x 51.5 x 25.7 cm BD-0008
Title, date size cm stock ref
Anthony Benjamin Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night I, 1988 pencil on paper 109 x 136 cm AB-0004
Bernard Dejonghe Tripode Noir, 2010 stoneware 49.3 x 69 x 33.5 cm BD-0010
Bernard Dejonghe Forme Brève, 2012 optical glass 29.5 x 28 x 20 cm BD-0015
Anthony Benjamin Eye of Horus, 1991 pencil on paper 74 x 99 cm AB-0006
Bernard Dejonghe Forme Brève, 2012 optical glass 20.5 x 17.5 x 16 cm BD-0013
Forme Brève, 2012 optical glass 20.5 x 27 x 17 cm BD-0017
Anthony Benjamin Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night II, 1989, pencil on paper, 87 x 150 cm, AB-0005
Anthony Benjamin
Bernard Dejonghe
Born in Boarhunt, Hampshire, he began an apprenticeship in engineering at Southall Technical College and subsequently left to pursue his interest in art at the Regent Street Polytechnic in 1949. During this time, he spent three months studying drawing with Fernand Léger in Paris. Following his graduation in 1954, he worked in London and a year later moved to St Ives, where he developed a reputation as an abstract artist.
Born in Chantilly, France, Bernard Dejonghe studied at l’École des Métiers d’Art in Paris from 1960 to 1964, and then moved to Fontenay-aux-Roses in 1968, where he worked in Emile Decoeur’s former workshop until 1975.
(1931-2002)
In 1956, Benjamin was approached by Peter Lanyon, who encouraged him to join the Newlyn Society, and he soon after had his first solo exhibition at the Newly Art Gallery. In the following year, he was awarded a French Government Fellowship for painting and printmaking and studied with W S Hayter at Atelier 17 in Paris. From 1960-61, he was in Rome on an Italian Government Fellowship. From 1967, Benjamin worked as a fine art professor in institutions throughout North America. After returning to Britain in 1973, he worked as a printmaker and later began making a series of large drawings in graphite, followed by a group of brightly coloured canvases which he worked on until his death in 2002. Selected Public Collections Canada Council Art Bank, Canada Glasgow Museum & Art Gallery, Glasgow, UK Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover, Germany Museum of Contemporary Art, Nagaoka, Japan Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje, Yugoslavia Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA National Museum of Art, Krakow, Poland Norwich Castle Museum, Norwich, UK The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Australia The Arts Council of Great Britain The Tate Gallery, London, UK
For more information about both of the artists, please visit our website. Previous Spread: Bernard Dejonghe Grand Biface, 2013 optical glass 41 x 30 x 23 cm BD-0019
(b.1942)
Although he began his career as a ceramic artist, he would also explore the medium of glass. He moved to Briançonnet, in the countryside of Nice in 1977, where he built his own workshop and a Japanese kiln which allowed him to wood-fire his work. Since 1989, Dejonghe has travelled through the deserts of Mauritania, Algeria, Egypt, Chad, Sudan and Niger, where he explores the local geology and the artifacts of primitive life. He has also undertaken research with scientists of the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, exploring remote parts of these areas and searching for prehistoric human settlements. His travels and research have greatly influenced his artwork. Dejonghe has been the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the National Grand Prize of the Ministry of Culture in Paris in 1995 and the Cultural Prize of the City of Bourges in 1996. Additionally, his work may be seen in many international public collections. Selected Public Collections Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece Corning Museum, New York, USA Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan International Ceramic Museum, Faenza, Italy International Ceramics Museum, Incheon, Korea Kurokabe Museum, Nagahama City, Japan Musée d’Art Contemporain, Nice, France Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France Musée National de Céramique, Sèvres, France Museum of Design, Turin, Italy Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
Anthony Benjamin Nameless Place, 1990 pencil on paper 29 x 33 cm AB-0017
The exhibition will be fully illustrated on our website www.erskinehallcoe.com/exhibitions/dejonghe-benjamin-2014 photography by Michael Harvey design by fivefourandahalf Š Erskine, Hall & Coe Ltd, 2014 Gallery Opening Hours: Monday to Friday: 10am-6pm Saturdays (during exhibitions only): 10am-6pm