After Matisse 28 June - 14 July 2014
Victoria Achache Derek Balmer Sandra Blow RA Martyn Brewster Rose Hilton Bruce McLean Alice Mumford Frank Phelan
Cover: Bruce McLean, screenprint and collage, 122 x 152cm
After Matisse 28 June - 14 July 2014
Matisse is one of the greatest painters of all time and currently wowing the crowds at Tate Modern with his absolutely sensational paper cut-outs, which once again shows how far ahead of his time he was. His daring innovations in colour, form and pattern have influenced generations of artists including Richard Diebenkorn, Milton Avery, Mark Rothko, Patrick Heron and Sarah Morris. This exhibition celebrates some modern day painters whose work has been influenced by this master - Victoria Achache, Derek Balmer, Sandra Blow, Martyn Brewster, Rose Hilton, Bruce McLean, Alice Mumford and Frank Phelan. Of course, there is a bit of cross over but broadly the artists can be divided into two groups. Some of the artists in the show are more influenced by the pattern making and motif repetition and in this category would be Rose Hilton, Bruce McLean and Derek Balmer. The others are perhaps more influenced by Matisse’s daring use of colour, so Victoria Achache, Sandra Blow, Martyn Brewster, Frank Phelan and Alice Mumford are in this group. Artists like Matisse, because of their incredible innovations in the language of painting, opened the door for many artists as can be seen in this show and have inspired work that seems very relevant and current to today’s art scene.
Two Figures and Plant Victoria Achache oil on canvas 102 x 122cm
Victoria Achache, born in 1952, studied at
Byam Shaw School of Art, London from 1970 to 1974. Her work has been included regularly in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and she has held regular solo and group exhibitions in London. “Victoria Achache’s paintings are all about colour, light and space. Colour has long been a primary preoccupation in her work, colour in the way that Matisse used it, vivid and luminous; and light, usually a soft, misty English light...” Mary Rose Beaumont
Still Life with Jug Victoria Achache oil on canvas 76 x 91cm
Still Life with Striped Cup Victoria Achache oil on canvas 51 x 51cm
Two Figures and Plant Victoria Achache oil on canvas 56 x 61cm
Two Figures and Plant Victoria Achache oil on canvas 122 x 82cm
Running Away Victoria Achache etching with chine collĂŠ 39 x 42cm
Still Life Victoria Achache etching with chine collĂŠ 39 x 42cm
Desert Crossing Derek Balmer oil on canvas 60 x 100cm
Derek Balmer, born in 1934, was part of the
exciting 1960s Bristol art scene and later President of the RWA. An early Arnolfini artist, with two solo shows in the 1960s, he didn’t paint full time until he gave up a lucrative photography business. He has also held numerous solo and group shows in London, Amsterdam and The Hague. In 2012 his monograph ‘A Singular Vision’ was published, written by Derek Balmer, Andrew Lambirth and ACH Smith.
Headland Derek Balmer oil on canvas 45 x 60cm
Desert Edge Derek Balmer oil on canvas 45 x 56cm
Desert Garden Derek Balmer oil on canvas 60 x 76cm
Sandra Blow RA (1925 - 2006) Born in London in 1925, Sandra’s innovative approach to painting during in 1950’s insured her position as one of the leaders of the post war British abstract movement. Sandra studied at St. Martin’s (1941-6) and then the Royal Academy School’s, before leaving for Italy. Alberto Burri introduced Sandra to the potentials of collage and the tensions between textures therein. From her mentor Sandra distilled her own form of reductive abstract expressionism, preoccupied with space, matter and movement. Throughout the fifties Sandra enjoyed regular one-man shows at Gimpel Fils, London and had soon exhibited all over the world. In 1978 Sandra was elected Royal Academician and in 1994 the Royal Academy honoured her achievements with a solo show.
Offside Sandra Blow Ra acrylic and collage on canvas 93 x 93cm
Revolve Sandra Blow RA etching 77 x 73cm
Screen Kiss Sandra Blow RA etching 77 x 73cm
Martyn Brewster Born in Oxford in 1952, Martyn studied at Hertfordshire and Brighton Colleges of Art graduating from the MA course in 1975. Exhibited with Jill George Gallery, London since 1986. Exhibited in USA, France and Spain as well as regular solo exhibitions at the Gallery of paintings and monoprints. Work is represented in numerous public and private collections throughout the world including The British Museum, Tate Britain, V & A Museum, Bournemouth Arts Institute and Bournemouth University (Collections). In 1997 Martyn had a large travelling retrospective exhibition starting at Russell Cotes Museum and Art Gallery in Bournemouth and coinciding with this a book was published written by Simon Olding. A book on Martyn’s monoprints from 1975-2007, written by Vivien Light and Simon Olding has now been published.
Coastal Light No. 37 Martyn Brewster oil on canvas 50 x 61cm
Coastal Light No. 90 Martyn Brewster oil on canvas
Heartsong Martyn Brewster silkscreen monoprint 56 x 56cm
Night Music Martyn Brewster oil on canvas 35 x 35cm
Rose Hilton Rose Hilton, nÊe Phipps, born Tonbridge , Kent, 1931, studied at Beckenham School of Art and in 1953 won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London. On her return from a year in Rome she met the artist Roger Hilton and married in 1965 and set up home together in a house on Botallack Moor, St Just, where they lived until Roger’s early death in 1975. Rose has steadily built a reputation as a major St Ives artist. At the recent retrospective held at Tate St Ives in January-May 2008, the paintings were chosen to reflect the increasingly abstract nature of her work, though she rarely abandons figuration entirely. Though best known for her sensual nudes and lusciously coloured interiors, there were also landscapes on display, in which the leap towards abstraction is perhaps most apparent. An in-depth study on Rose Hilton by Andrew Lambirth, critic for the Spectator, was published in June 2009.
Figures Rose Hilton oil on linen 66 x 66cm
Landscape Rose Hilton oil on linen 25 x 30cm
Pink Nude Rose Hilton oil on linen 76 x 61cm
Karen on the Blue Chair Rose Hilton pastel on paper 29 x 21cm
Sitting in the Conservatory Rose Hilton pastel on paper 40 x 30cm
Model and Artist Rose Hilton oil on linen 61 x 51cm
Pink Nude Rose Hilton oil on linen 76 x 61cm
John Huggins Matisse always seemed to me to move effortlessly between painting and sculpture and then between hard edge geometry and soft organic form. This flexibility has helped me understand my own own tendencies. Matisse’s influence on me began when I saw the four massive bronze backs in New York in 1972 and later read a chapter devoted to him in Bill Tucker’s “The Language of Sculpture”. Some years after I made several sculptures directly derived from the catalogue of a show called “Matisse - the Early years in Nice” and then there are the cutouts. So of the six bronzes in this show the respectful references are explicit - Acrobat from the abstracted cut-outs, Odalisque from the Nice paintings, and the little heads from Matisse’s series of Jeanette. His regard for the human figure, nude and draped, and his concern for colour ,form and space over representation is fundamental to my own efforts. The American sculptor Theodore Roszak thought that “the overruling concepts of form and space must prevail”
Acrobat John Huggins bronze
Nocturne John Huggins bronze
Parthian John Huggins bronze
Untitled Bruce McLean monoprint 122 x 152cm
Bruce McLean is one of the major figures of contemporary
British Art. Born in 1944 he studied at Glasgow school of art and at St. Martin’s in London, where he was taught by Anthony Caro. He was given an exhibition at the Tate Gallery at the age of 27. From the late 1970s he has made paintings and prints in which humour remains central. After St. Martin’s McLean went on to teach at The Slade School of Fine Art. His early reputation arose from his activities as a sculptor involved in performance art. He has obtained international recognition for his paintings and prints, work with film theatre and books. Bruce’s bold and confident approach to print making proved influential to his contemporaries and also to a generation of younger artists. Bruce’s work is in private and public collections world-wide and he has had numerous one man shows in both Europe and North America. These include The Tate Gallery, the Modern Art Gallery in Vienna and The Museum of Modern Art Oxford. Bruce McLean was awarded the John Moores prize for painting in 1985, and is the Head of Graduate Painting at the Slade. He lives and works in London.
Untitled Bruce McLean monoprint 122 x 152cm
Untitled Bruce McLean monoprint 122 x 152cm
Untitled Bruce McLean monoprint 122 x 152cm
Alice Mumford Born in Columbia, 1965, Alice Mumford studied at Falmouth College of Art in1995, Camberwell School of Art 1984-1987, Southwark College of Art and Design 1982-1984, Dartington Hall 1979-1982. Alice Mumford holds regular one-person and group exhibitions in London, Bath and Cornwall. She currently teaches life drawing and painting at St. Ives School of Painting.
The Turquoise Cup Alice Mumford oil on canvas 20 x 30cm
Hawthorne and Fuchsia Alice Mumford oil on canvas 30 x 40cm
St Ives Studio Alice Mumford oil on canvas 30 x 40cm
Morning Light and the Round Table Alice Mumford oil on canvas 61 x 76cm
Two Yellows Alice Mumford oil on canvas 20 x 30cm
Spring Morning Alice Mumford oil on canvas 76 x 61cm
Botallack IV Frank Phelan oil on canvas 76 x 51cm
Frank Phelan
Born in Dublin, Ireland Frank Phelan was educated at the Royal Irish Architectural Institute School and travelled to the USA and Canada to work throughout the 1950s. He moved back to establish his art studio in London and St Ives between 1961 65 and also designed theatre sets at Unity Theatre, Mornington Crescent during this period. Frank Phelan has held solo and group exhibitions in London, Edinburgh, Oxfordshire and Ireland and his work can be found in private collections in Britain, Ireland, USA and France. His paintings are also in the State Collection of Ireland.
Figure in Yellow Frank Phelan oil on canvas 76 x 76cm
Coolock Frank Phelan oil on canvas 35.5 x 40.5cm
Naxos Frank Phelan oil on canvas 35.5 x 40.5cm
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