Alan Cotton
Introduction
Publications
To date, Alan has had 20 solo shows with our Gallery; the first was in 1985. And Jenny Pery has written two monographs on his bold, rich paintings for our impress, Studio Publications. So, I won’t go into too much biographical detail here, but looking back on what has been, by any estimation, his exceptionally successful and esteemed career, it’s worth remembering just how Alan began. He had a poor, if very happy childhood in Worcestershire, where, as one of four children, his mother nevertheless took time to recognise and nurture his talents. Following grammar school, he studied in the Painting School at Birmingham College of Art and then at the Universities of Birmingham and Exeter. Until 1982 when he resigned his position, he taught full time at Rolle College, while pursuing his own work, which, from the early 1960s, was driven specifically by his fascination with knife-painting and the sheer sensuality of oil paint. He credited his knife-painting epiphany to John Berger, whose impromptu visit in the early 1960s to Alan’s Wye Valley studio encouraged him to definitively shift from painting tonal landscapes and genre scenes towards working in a combination of knife and brushwork in a subdued palette inspired by the work of Nicholas De Staël and Kyffin Williams. Berger’s advice to pursue knife painting based on his “real feel for using paint” drove Alan to explore the limits of this technique. And based on his latest work, not only would Berger’s compliment appear to have been something of an understatement, but also, if anything, Alan seems to still be drawing the map of his technique, adding new territories in parallel with his actual travels. Over nearly thirty years now, I’ve witnessed how Alan continues to refine his remarkable technique and superb colour sense, and the boldly assertive, stylized forms and textures of his landscapes almost literally sculpt even the most exotic and rare topography into something so accessible and alluring that we almost feel we’ve been there before. But in essence, Alan’s work is literally about oil paint, a medium he understands and “speaks” fluently: its colour, smell and actual feel. In certain pictures, he uses the painting knife to form richly protruding surfaces, realising the unique forms and atmospheres of his chosen view. The fact is, whether Alan’s painting Devonshire cliffs, Moroccan souks, or Carpathian woods, at their heart, his pictures are about the potential, the caprices and promise of oil paint.
DM
Alan Cotton – Giving Life a Shape * By Jenny Pery Published by Halsgrove 2010.
This lavishly illustrated book begins by picturing the painter working intensively for his latest exhibition. Illustrations, combined with text reveal the way in which his ideas take shape through drawing in the landscape and show how these drawings become the seed corn from which he composes the knife paintings that have made his name. The book describes how the imperative to produce a body of work for an annual exhibition has shaped his life, and how his travels and charitable activities fit around these exhibitions. It dips into his past life to recall formative events and provides valuable information about current working practice. It gives a fascinating insight into the artist/dealer relationship and the running of a fine art galley. With interviews with collectors and reminiscences with friends, as well as pithy commentary from Alan himself, this book gives a comprehensive overview of Alan Cotton’s work through more than three decades and also contains much of interest for the would-be painter. * from Jean Anoulih “The purpose of Art is to give life a shape” Alan Cotton Publications by Messum’s Fine Art 1985 Alan Cotton, Opening Exhibition 1988 Paintings From Provence 1990 An English Painter Abroad 1991 Recent Paintings from Cyprus, Provence, Tuscany and Venice 1992 Essentially Provence 1994 Cotton on Canvas 1995 Reflections 1996 New Paintings 1997 New Paintings 1998 Paintings from Ireland and Elsewhere
1999 Predominantly Piemonte 2001 A Sense of Place 2002 More Than Morocco 2004 As I See it 2006 From Donegal to the Southern Hemisphere 2008 Hartland, Provence and Co Kerry 2010 Hartland, Ireland, Piemonte and Provence 2011 The Series Paintings 2012 A Painter’s Journey to Everest 2014 Hartland and Beyond
on   the road to Transylvania
Alan Cotton on   the road to Transylvania
2016
www.messums.com 28 Cork Street, London W1S 3NG Telephone: +44 (0)20 7437 5545
2015 was a year in the public eye After a career that has now included more banner years than can be adequately described here, 2015 was by any estimation a true highlight of Alan Cotton’s life as a painter. It was in the summer of last year that his stunning retrospective Contours in Colour was opened by HRH the Earl of Wessex at The Edge, the
Speaking at the time of the opening, Cotton described how excited he was at the thought of “…seeing my work, done over so many years, all together in one collection”. The feeling turned out to be entirely mutual with with several thousand visitors to The Edge and the RAMM, who realised a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to almost literally take a journey with him through the development of his painting technique, and indeed, career. Just as any great trip starts with studying a map, travelling though Cotton’s work begins with the topography of his impasto, formed through countless turns of the painting knife and his superb eye for colour. But there is nothing superficial about his work. For over fifty years, his sense of light and specific atmosphere has transported viewers on to wave-sprayed cliffs or amidst the fruity heat of an Italian vineyard. And following a recent trip to Transylvania, his new paintings, like the best fables, appear to take us somewhere both mysterious and deeply familiar.
HRH Prince Edward and Alan Cotton on the opening day of Contours in Colour, a retrospective of Alan’s work, held at the University of Bath, 30th June – 12th September 2015
Until he resigned his post in 1982 to devote himself to painting full time, Cotton was senior lecturer at Exmouth’s Rolle College. In recent years, when, he was not travelling and painting, he was deeply involved in the planning and development of The Edge, as noted by John Struthers, director of the Institute for Contemporary and Interdisplinary Arts (ICIA). Contours in Colour featured 68 paintings, spanning five decades, from his student days to the present, and capturing everywhere from his home in the Otter Valley, to Hartland, Ireland, the Western Isles of Scotland, Provence, Italy, Morocco and even Tibet. The exhibition also benefitted from important loans from the collections of HRH the Prince of Wales, and several public collections, notably the Art Galleries of Exeter and Plymouth
1. Skye – Neist Light House in Evening Light oil on canvas 41 x 51 cms 16 x 20 ins
Photo courtesy of Matt Austin
new centre for the arts at Bath University, where Cotton is an Honorary Professor. The exhibition then transferred to Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM), where it ran until the beginning of last November.
Alan Cotton with Art Malik, John Struthers, Tricia Cotton, John Nettles and Judi Spiers on the opening day of Contours in Colour at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter 17th September – 1st November 2015.
Foreword It was as unlikely an introduction to a master of the canvas as can be imagined. It was the mid-nineties. Kevin Crooks television producer and director of note and my younger self were driving northward up the splendidly named Atlantic Highway towards Bideford and Westward Ho!. We were making a documentary and in search of animals that behaved in funny, intelligent or commercially viable cute ways that might, we hoped, entertain a certain section of the viewing public. It had been a less than wonderful experience so far what with a pug beauty contest (!) an aromatically enhanced interview with an ancient lady in Paignton who kept 200 hamsters in the front room of her tiny council-house to say nothing of a horse lady, full of brandy, up in a corner of Exmoor who bade us goodbye by dancing like Isadora Duncan in the driveway of her manor house and wearing not very much at all… Kevin drove on. The road took us away from Bude and Kilkhampton along the coastline, past Sharpnose Point, up beside Hartland Point and on to Clovelly … Beautiful scenery all about. Big sky. Big Cliffs bathed in a golden sunlight that is God’s special gift to Devon. Nonetheless I was a bit depressed. Kevin had the cure. ‘I can get you’ said Kevin, ‘a painting by Alan Cotton. Now that will cheer you up!’ ‘Who’s he?’ I asked in somewhat ungracious fashion. ‘You mean you don’t know?’ he responded, aghast and scornful. (Kevin Crooks did aghast and scornful very well.) ‘Then I think you should find out’. I did find out and so was I introduced to the works of Alan Cotton. Kevin died in the last year of the last century, taken from us at a tragically early age but I thank him now wherever he may be, for pointing the way into Alan’s joyful, irrepressibly optimistic and often sublimely beautiful world. And Alan has indeed travelled all over the world for subject matter. From his native Devon to Provence, from Tibeta to New Zealand, from Venice to Scotland, Ireland to Transylvania, Alan has brought back to us extraordinary images. Mount Everest, huge and magnificent, the pretty villages of Provence atop their little hills glimpsed through the trees, the canal waters of Venice transformed into abstract patterns of light and reflected colour, the west coast of Ireland rain-sodden, vibrantly green and stormy … and more, many more. How does he do it? How does he go about creating these amazing works? Well, Alan achieves his effects in a rather special way. He does not use brushes at all, though you may be forgiven for thinking he does when you look at the gentle modulations and almost imperceptible elisions in, for example his Moroccan canvases. No, Alan has developed a particular style of applying paint to canvas by using a knife, or rather a series of five palette knives of various shapes and sizes. In the many studies of Hartland Point you can
most obviously see this technique at work where the huge vertical slabs of rock are repeated and mimicked by great slabs of impasto applied using the broad knife and in this way the work becomes more than just a representation of Hartland, it takes on the very life of the place. It is true, of course, that this is not a new technique for it was adopted, at least in part by a number of artistic pioneers including, most notably Van Gogh and a great Russian-born painter, Nicholas de Stael. Van Gogh did have recourse to the brush on occasion but de Stael, like Alan relies entirely on thick layers of impasto laid on exclusively by the knife to achieve a distinctive effect as does perhaps the best known of English knife-wielders, another man from the west country, Neil Murison. Both these artists produced predominantly gentle, abstract and usually quite simple images in their work. Alan doesn’t do that for it is at this point that we see how much Alan differs from them and how he makes his own very distinct, contrasting and hugely impressive contribution to the great European tradition of landscape paintings. Unlike de Stael and Murison with their quiet, somewhat removed and abstract non-representational works, Alan’s paintings have much stronger ties with realism. There is usually a much more intricate arrangement of marks on the canvas which gives an energy, a sense of constant busyness to the surface, everything seems to be in motion, and, more than that, as Kevin, my original guide on this artistic journey, remarked, Alan’s pictures are not quiet, ‘You know you don’t just see an Alan Cotton painting, you hear it too’ and, remarkable as it seems, I know this to be true and particularly so when looking at, say, the studies of Hartland where the steep cliffs pitch down vertiginously to the rumbling sea, dark skies overhead. In my mind I swear I can hear those waves rasping on the sand, the seagull shriek and the wind soughing about the dark rocks. Because of this, as with all his canvases, there can be an absorbing, complete and always pleasurable interaction between the observer and the observed which does not fade or diminish with the passage of time or repeated viewings. They are truly joyful works full of a restless, questing energy pervading and lifting the flatness of the image into shapes of great dramatic power and of sumptuous colour, a life-affirming delight to behold, I am lucky enough to possess a few of Alan’s paintings. They have been hanging in pride of place upon the walls of our Devon home for many a long year now and they are a source of constant delight, more than the work of any other artist I have acquired. We think of them as friends we love to see every day and of whose company we never tire, these spaces filled in a most beautiful way. Alan Cotton. We are lucky to have him. John Nettles OBE
2. Skye – Towering Clouds Over the Sea oil on canvas 61 x 61 cms 24 x 24 ins
Transylvania
Sketching at Miklosvar For the first part of my working trip in Transylvania we are based at Miklosvar, which is an ancient Saxon village dating back to the 13th century and it’s church, like many in Transylvania, is fortified and gave refuge to the villagers and their animals, from invading tribes. Almost all the roads in the village are stony and pot-holed - and spattered with manure from the many horses and carts that trundle through, not to mention sticky pats from the cows who wander aimlessly among the cottages.
Alan Drawing at Miklosvar - ‘Farmyard with Pigeon Loft’
The second two drawings, from which I will definitely work on as a painting back in the studio, is of a vegetable garden where crops were being grown for sale in the market. The first time I drew there, a group of people were working feverishly in the hot sun, harvesting the produce. Just up the road beyond the church, storks were nesting, high on a telegraph pole, their nests perched on a metal grid, specially constructed for them to build. We saw these in a number of villages.
Farmyard with Pigeon Loft – Miklosvar
We met the cows every evening as we walked up for supper and discovered that they spend each day in a communal meadow and at 8pm they are released to make their way unattended to their respective farmyards for milking. Each group or individual cow knowing instinctively when to turn in through their particular gateway whilst the others continue on to their own farms or homesteads. This evening ritual is watched by the villagers who emerge from their cottages, suggesting the importance of these animal in their lives.
One of the most fascinating Storks Nesting at Miklosvar features of the room at Miklosvar, was a large stone plinth, on which stood a massive ceramic structure patterned with grids, like a radiator and we discovered that this was exactly what it was. Outside the room, behind the structure, was a small furnace, into which wood would have been inserted and a fire lit. The heat would fill the hollow ceramic radiator and so warm the room during the cold winter months
What struck me straight away was the vastness of the landscape and the way the fields were laid out in long strips of different crops, with many small farms where the barns, largely made of wood, with terracotta tiled roofs, must have changed little for centuries. In the drawing above the farm buildings also included a pigeon loft, on stilts, below which, in a roughly built enclosure, stood three sheep, their heads through the fencing, munching hay from a manger.
The Vegetable Garden – Miklosvar
3. Transylvania – The Vegetable Garden at Miklosvar oil on canvas 51 x 61 cms 20 x 24 ins
Late Summer 2015 – The Western Isles
Cotton’s abstracted, atmospheric views of Skye, the Neist Peninsula, and the baroque cloudscapes and play of reflections above Lochs Mor and Scaveig capture the wild, ever-changing weather and sheer otherness of one of the most remote and ancient parts of Britain. Here, the stark crags of Cullin Ridge drop to soft white sands, and the play of reflections at low tide amongst the inlets and tiny islets create lacy patterns that Cotton distinctly captures with discrete, subtle turns of his knife, alternately applying oil in translucent layers and points of bold impasto.
4. Skye – The Neist Peninsula in late Evening Light oil on canvas 61 x 51 cms 24 x 20 ins
5. Skye – Evening Near Elgol oil on canvas 61 x 61 cms 24 x 24 ins
6. Skye – Trail Through the Cuillin Mountains oil on canvas 51 x 61 cms 20 x 24 ins
7. Skye – Lone Cottage Below the Cuillin Mountains oil on canvas 61 x 61 cms 24 x 24 ins
8. Skye – Last Light on the Cuillins oil on canvas 36 x 36 cms 14 x 14 ins
9. Skye – Rivulets into Loch Mor oil on canvas 92 x 102 cms 36 x 40 ins
10. Skye – Cloud Reflections Across Loch Scavaig oil on canvas 61 x 61 cms 24 x 24 ins
11. Skye – Storm Clouds Over the Cuillins oil on canvas 61 x 61 cms 24 x 24 ins
12. Skye – Storm Clouds at Neist Headland oil on canvas 61 x 92 cms 24 x 36 ins
13. Skye – Streams among the Rocks at Loch Mor oil on canvas 61 x 61 cms 24 x 24 ins
14. Skye – Neist Light House
in Morning Light
oil on canvas 51 x 41 cms 20 x 16 ins
15. Skye – The Cuillins
from Loch Scavaig
oil on canvas 41 x 51 cms 16 x 20 ins
16. Skye – Loch Scavaig with Early Morning Reflections oil on canvas 51 x 61 cms 20 x 24 ins
17. Skye – Pinnacle Ridge in the Cuillin Mountains oil on canvas 61 x 61 cms 24 x 24 ins
18. Skye – Across the Loch to Pinnacle Ridge oil on canvas 51 x 61 cms 20 x 24 ins
Nearer to Home – Hartland, North Devon
One of Alan Cotton’s first paintings to be bought by a public collection was Hartland (1977, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery), a chilly scene of coastal North Devon. Decades on, he continues to return there to this charged part of England’s Jurassic past. “I began to think of the paintings as a series, as Monet did… Every painting I made of Hartland was an attempt to look at the relationship between the static land strata and the movement of water coming in, constantly trying to erode it.”
above 19. Devon – Hartland,
Craggy Peninsula
oil on canvas 36 x 36 cms 141⁄8 x 141⁄8 ins
left 20. Devon – Dazzling Light
at Hartland
oil on canvas 51 x 51 cms 201⁄8 x 201⁄8 ins
21. Devon – Silver Light Over the Rocks at Hartland oil on canvas 51 x 61 cms 20 x 24 ins
above 22. Devon – Misty Light at Hartland oil on canvas 36 x 36 cms 14 x 14 ins
right 23. Devon – Silver Coastline at Hartland oil on canvas 36 x 36 cms 14 x 14 ins
opposite 24. Devon – Evening Sky at Hartland oil on canvas 92 x 71 cms 36 x 28 ins
25. Devon – Gentle Light Along the Hartland Coast oil on canvas 61 x 61 cms 24 x 24 ins
26. Devon – Winter Sun at Hartland oil on canvas 92 x 71 cms 36 x 28 ins
27. Devon – Ebbing Tide at Welcombe Bay oil on canvas 61 x 61 cms 24 x 24 ins
28. Devon – Cliffs Above Welcombe Bay oil on canvas 61 x 61 cms 24 x 24 ins
29. Hartland – Wild Seas
oil on canvas 91 x 91 cms 357⁄8 x 357⁄8 ins
30. Devon – Trees Against the Light at Beer oil on canvas 51 x 61 cms 20 x 24 ins
Returning to Ireland
Cotton’s Irish views, with their low horizon lines, endlessly mutable skies, and his eye for the various patterns man imposes on nature, recall pictures from the Dutch and Flemish “golden age”. But there is also a sympathy with the bold, if lesser known masters of Flemish Expressionism, such as Constant Permeke. Coincidentally, Permeke is said to have painted his first truly characteristic works in Chardstock, in Devon, so this affinity might not be a complete coincidence. But, regardless of locale, in each of his Irish views Cotton’s orchestration of colour, texture and the knife’s turn compel our eye toward horizons alluringly suggestive of somewhere farther still.
31. Donegal – Curving Stream into the Estuary oil on canvas 36 x 36 cms 141⁄8 x 141⁄8 ins
32. Co Donegal – Enclosures Beside the Bay oil on canvas 36 x 36 cms 141⁄8 x 141⁄8 ins
33. Co. Kerry – Peat Stacks bordering the Bay oil on canvas 36 x 36 cms 141⁄8 x 141⁄8 ins
34. Connemara – Golden Light Over the Twelve Pins oil on canvas 61 x 76 cms 24 x 30 ins
Provence – Southern France
In many ways, Cotton’s painting knife ideally captures the layered patterns of geology and his panoramic views of Bonnieux, Gordes and Lacoste appear almost crystalline. His technique shapes the lattice patterns of these hill towns to appear as if to be both built upon and actually part of the living Provençal rock. It’s an effect that captures both the ancient and the accidental aspects of these historic towns, which were sited for defence, but also evolved according to the rhythms of their seasons and crops.
above 35. Provence – The Hill Town
of Bonnieux
oil on canvas 36 x 36 cms 141⁄8 x 141⁄8 ins
left 36. Provence – Cypress trees
at Lacoste
oil on canvas 36 x 36 cms 141⁄8 x 141⁄8 ins
37. Provence – Gordes-Jewel of the Vaucluse oil on canvas 91 x 91 cms 35 7⁄8 x 35 7⁄8 ins
38. Provence – Bonnieux From the Meadows oil on canvas 51 x 51 cms 201⁄8 x 201⁄8 ins
39. Provence – Lacoste to Bonnieux oil on canvas 127 x 102 cms 50 x 401⁄8 ins
40. Provence – Lavender Fields oil on canvas 36 x 36 cms 141⁄8 x 141⁄8 ins
41. Tuscany – San Gimignano oil on canvas 36 x 36 cms 141⁄8 x 141⁄8 ins
42. Provence – Soft Evening light at Gordes oil on canvas 51 x 61 cms 201⁄8 x 24 ins
Piemonte – Northern Italy
Describing painting in Piemonte, Cotton said, “I was with David [Messum] in Caterina’s vineyard where you get this scaffolding of these poles with the vine leaves and in the autumn, after the grapes are gathered, the colours are unbelievable. Even on the same branch you get colours moving from purple to Naples yellow, and it’s true this thing about diffusion and focus, about looking through something towards softer layers of landscape with hills and mists. It’s wonderful, really.”
above 43. Piemonte – Fiery Vines oil on canvas 51 x 41 cms 20 x 16 ins
left 44. Piemonte – Rhythms
of the Langhe
oil on canvas 61 x 61 cms 24 x 24 ins
45. Piemonte – Olive Trees among the Vines oil on canvas 116 x 91 cms 455⁄8 x 357⁄8 ins
46. Piemonte – Cottages near
Montelupo Albese
oil on canvas 36 x 36 cms 141⁄8 x 141⁄8 ins
47. Piemonte – Villa Amongst the Vines oil on canvas 51 x 61 cms 201⁄8 x 24 ins
“
It is extremely difficult to portray the hilly countryside of the Langhe but through
his use of light and shadow and with his skill and his deep understanding, Alan Cotton has succeeded in uniquely capturing the atmosphere of our landscape. Gianni Corrado Mayor of Serravalle Langhe
48. Piemonte – Montage of Autumn Vines oil on canvas 71 x 92 cms 28 x 36 ins
”
49. Piemonte – Translucent Vines
in Caterina’s Vineyard
oil on canvas 51 x 41 cms 20 x 16 ins
50. Piemonte – Radiant Vines
in Misty Landscape
oil on canvas 41 x 51 cms 16 x 20 ins
51. Piemonte – Iridescent Vines in Rolling Vineyards oil on canvas 61 x 51 cms 24 x 20 ins
Reflections from Venice
Cotton has long acknowledged the influence of Kyffin Williams and Nicholas de Staël, but does not claim to follow their style or technique. Both artists, acknowledged exemplars of knife painting, had, to differing degrees, a decidedly synthetic approach to landscape in that they usually choose forms that could be easily rendered in square or rectangular strokes: houses, cliffs, beaches, roads, etc. Conversely, Cotton’s fascination with the sensuality of oil paint led him to develop a more fluid approach to knife painting beautifully suited to capturing the fleeting and intangible, such as his much admired studies of the ripples reflected in the canals of Venice, where he often worked out of Ken Howard’s studio.
52. Venice – Rowing into the Shadow oil on canvas 36 x 36 cms 14 x 14 ins
53. Venice – Swirling Waters oil on canvas 61 x 51 cms 24 x 20 ins
54. Venice – Façade Reflections in Accademia oil on canvas 51 x 41 cms 20 x 16 ins
55. Venice – Reflections in the Canal Basin oil on canvas 51 x 41 cms 20 x 16 ins
Morocco and Cyprus
High colour keys and bold handling have always marked his work, but Cotton’s views of Cyprus are heady, sensual panoramas, their scope often emphasised by daringly stylised foregrounds. The evidence of humanity throughout these Cyprus views lies in the bold patterning of planted fields, while the human element in his Morocco views is more straightforward. At Jemaa-el-Fna the brilliant light and dusty air make people in the souks appear silhouetted, their movements diffused or even partially obscured by the stratified light created by the burning sunlight and the deep pools of shade from umbrellas and valances.
above 56. Morocco – Midday
in Marrakech
oil on canvas 35 x 36 cms 133⁄4 x 141⁄8 ins
left 57. Morocco – Spring in the
Atlas Mountains
oil on canvas 51 x 51 cms 201⁄8 x 201⁄8 ins
58. Cyprus – Summer at Paphos oil on canvas 91 x 102 cms 357⁄8 x 401⁄8 ins
Tibetan Slopes
Cotton had long wanted to travel to the Himalayas and to paint Everest, and in May of 2011 David Hempleman-Adams invited to join his party as official artist, as his team attempted to reach the summit via the North Face. While HemplemanAdams and three of his team succeeded, Cotton’s own trip was cut short as a consequence of American students protesting the Chinese occupation of Tibet. He returned several months later, however, and reached Base Camp and higher under practically ideal conditions. Cotton made at least 40 drawings, which became the source of 25 glowing canvases.
59. Tibet – Prayer Flags in Warm Evening Light oil on canvas 51 x 41 cms 201⁄8 x 161⁄8 ins
60. Tibet – Drifting Clouds Towards the Summit oil on board 71 x 91 cms 28 x 357⁄8 ins
61. Tibet – Fiery Clouds Beyond
the Summit
oil on canvas 41 x 51 cms 161⁄8 x 201⁄8 ins
62. Tibet – Drifting Snow Towards
the Summit
oil on canvas 71 x 92 cms 28 x 361⁄4 ins
63 Tibet – Silver Light on Everest oil on canvas 71 x 91 cms 28 x 357⁄8 ins
Transylvania
Sketching at Zalanpatak The last part of our trip was spent in one of the most remote of Transylvanian villages. Few people venture down the fourteen kilometre track to Zalanpatak. For much of the route the roads are rough, potholed bridle paths, narrow single tracked lanes, through forests and up into the hills. When we first made the journey, the route became so narrow, that we were beginning to feel we had taken a wrong turn, but carried on until a rusting village sign heralded the fact that we had reached our destination – Zalanpatak. We were heading for The Prince of Wales cluster of cottages, that have been renovated using traditional materials, with great care to encourage guests to come and enjoy the area and to contribute to the local economy. We felt very privileged to be offered the Prince of Wales’ rooms in his cottage for our stay and we and other guests were made very welcome by the staff. Long before we reached the Prince of Wales Cottages at the far end of the village I had found many places I wanted to work. What fascinated me most was the juxtaposition of the old barns and farmyards, particularly their construction. Where whole logs, chiseled smooth top and bottom were laid on top of each other, with wedges cut into each corner so that they slot together on all four sides of the building. Gaps between have been roughly filled with a mixture of mud and horse or cow dung. I have spent several days walking the fields in the heat of the sun searching out spots from which to create drawings for my
Zalanpatak – Hayricks
Zalanpatak – Old Barns
work. Although one of the problems I had initially was that all the farmyard enclosures are fenced off and it was difficult to get in amongst them, I was able to persuade people working in the fields, by showing them my drawing book and pens and happily waved me in to get on with my work. The barns and farmyards are all fenced for protection from bears, that frequently roam the village, In fact we were told that if we hear a bell ring in the late evening or early morning it is to warn the villages that there are bears about and it’s safer to stay in doors. In the daytime apparently they are rarely seen.. There is no internet connection here, no mobile phone signals and no television or radio. The only means of communication is from the house telephone, which can be used in an emergency! Despite, or maybe because of its remoteness, Zalanpatak is a totally unspoilt and peaceful rural landscape. Walking up the hill behind the cottages we found ourselves knee deep in meadows with thousands of flowers of every hue and butterflies in their hundreds, swooping and swirling around our heads, in an array of colours we have never seen before. These meadows continue for thousands of achres. This is how England and many part of Europe must have been before the industrial revolution and the use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers destroyed the natural richness of our landscape. I am well aware that for me, coming from Western Europe, this other world seems an idyllic vision of a pastoral landscape, which feeds the senses. The people I was with, working in the fields scything the hay and pitch-forking it into hayricks, seemed very cheerful and happy with what they were doing. I have been told though, that the winters here can be particularly harsh, with temperatures as low as minus twenty degrees. Yet still the milking needs to be done and the fields ploughed, using horses and a hand guided plough, ready for spring sowing.
64. Transylvania – Hayricks and Barns
at Zalanpatak
oil on canvas 41 x 51 cms 161⁄8 x 201⁄8 ins
65. Transylvania – Old Barns in the
Meadows at Zalanpatak
oil on canvas 51 x 51 cms 201⁄8 x 201⁄8 ins
Transylvania
Sketching at Zalanpatak continued
Zalanpatak – Meadows
Zalanpatak – Farmyard
The cows, either very large herds, or sometimes just a single animal for a family, are milked by hand and the milk churns collected by horse and cart. We asked if we could buy milk in the village shop and were told that the shop wouldn’t need to keep it as every family had at least one cow and any extra would be taken to be sold in the nearest town – some 20 kilometres away.
Zalanpatak – Rolling Landscape
So, whilst we see an idyllic rural scene with meadows full of wild flowers and butterflies, cows meandering down parched earth lanes and horses and carts laden with hay or other crops, for the local people it can be a harsh way of life, relieved at times by music and dancing. The tiny pub – more like someone’s back room with benches and tables in the courtyard – opens at eight o’clock in the evening, when the workers have finished in the fields and stays open until midnight for those who must labour longer to complete the day’s work.
Alan and Tricia outside the Prince’s Cottage at Zalanpatak
In association with Messum’s he has exhibited with other galleries, including: • Walker Galleries, Honiton and at Sidbury Mill • John Davies Gallery, Stow-on-the-Wold • Falle Fine Art, Jersey • Lewis Elton Gallery, University of Surrey 2012
Alan Cotton
Alan was brought up in Redditch, Worcestershire, where he attended the local Grammar and Art Schools, before moving on to study at Ruskin Hall, Bournville School of Art. He progressed to Birmingham College of Art and after three years in the Painting School there, completed his training at Birmingham University and at the University of Exeter, where he took his Master’s Degree. In 2005, he was honoured to accompany His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales to Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji as his Tour Artist. In 2009, he was nominated as an icon by the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Committee and attended two fundraising dinners at Windsor Castle, together with many celebrities. Alan was a founding member and the first President of the South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts, which encourages and supports young artists. For many years Alan has been a central figure in the Arts of the South West and through his charitable works has raised substantial amounts of money for a range of charities, including the Art for Life Auction for Children’s Hospice South West, which, in 2013, raised over £22,000. In 2006 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (D.Litt) by the University of Exeter for his ‘outstanding contribution to the Arts’. He was later appointed Hon. Professor of Arts at the University of Bath, giving his inaugural lecture on 2nd November 2011. EXHIBITIONS Messum’s Fine Art, London Alan Cotton is represented internationally by Messum’s, who, for over 30 years have presented regular solo shows of his work. Messum’s Exhibitions and Publications: 1985 Alan Cotton, Opening Exhibition 1988 Paintings From Provence 1990 An English Painter Abroad 1991 Recent Paintings from Cyprus, Provence, Tuscany and Venice 1992 Essentially Provence 1994 Cotton on Canvas 1995 Reflections 1996 New Paintings 1997 New Paintings 1998 Paintings from Ireland and Elsewhere 1999 Predominantly Piemonte 2001 A Sense of Place 2002 More Than Morocco 2004 As I See it 2006 From Donegal to the Southern Hemisphere 2008 Hartland, Provence and Co Kerry 2010 Hartland, Ireland, Piemonte and Provence 2011 The Series Paintings 2012 A Painter’s Journey to Everest 2014 Hartland and Beyond 2015 Contours in Colour, Alan Cotton – A Retrospective 2016 On the Road to Transylvania
Other One-Man Exhibitions include: • City of Plymouth Art Gallery • Dorset County Museum, Dorchester • Exeter Royal Albert Memorial Museum • Nuffield Gallery, Southampton • The Bournemouth Gallery, Hampshire • Stroud Art Gallery, Gloucestershire • The Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton • Otterton Mill Gallery, Devon • Canada Arts Gallery, Victoria B.C. Canada • City Gallery, Dinan, Brittany, France • Hammer Galleries, New York • The Edge, University of Bath, Bath • Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter Mixed Exhibitions include: • Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions • Royal West of England Academy • Royal British Society of Artists • Royal Birmingham Society of Artists • South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts • 20th Century British Painting Exhibitions, London • Waterman’s Fine Art • W. H. Patterson – London • West Country Painting Austin Desmond Gallery, Devon • Charles Causley A Tribute From the Artists – Tour: West Country and London • Bath, Chichester, Sidmouth and Honiton Festivals • Falmouth Art Gallery British Impressionists in Cornwall and Cornish Collections 2011 • Toronto International Art Fairs October 2012 and 2013 • Torre Abbey 2013 Afloat • Gloss Gallery Exeter Paragone – Sculpture or Painting 2014 • The Brook Gallery Exeter Moor to Sea 2016 Paintings in Collections: • His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales • Queen Mary II Commissioned by Cunard • City of Plymouth Art Gallery; • Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter; • National Collection of Paintings in Hospitals; • University of Southampton; • University of Exeter (6 paintings) • Royal Marine Commandos Lympstone • Kings Norton Conference Centre, Birmingham (13 paintings) • Carlton Westcountry Television. • Alan also has work in private collections in the UK,, Canada • United States, South Africa and many European countries. Television – A selection of films: • A Step or Two Away the Picture is Complete Directed by Kevin Crooks BBC (30 min.) • An Artist On Every Corner Directed by David Spires BBC (30 mins.) • Paint Directed by Kevin Crooks ITV (30 mins.) • Alan Cotton at Home with David Young ITV • So You Want to Be an Artist Directed by Kevin Crooks ITV • Cotton on Canvas Two 30 minute films. Presenter Hugh Scully. Director Philip Speight ITV Films: Return to Hartland 2008 Directed by Gary Vernon Produced by Laura Collier Alan Cotton A Private View Directed by Tristan Loraine David Hempleman-Adams on Alan Cotton By University of Bath Books: Alan Cotton – On A Knife Edge by Jenny Pery, published by Halsgrove 2003 Alan Cotton – Giving Life a Shape by Jenny Pery, published by Halsgrove 2010
CDXIV
ISBN 978-1-910993-06-4 Publication No: CDXIV Published by David Messum Fine Art Š David Messum Fine Art
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Studio, Lords Wood, Marlow, Buckinghamshire. Tel: 01628 486565 www.messums.com Photography: Steve Russell Printed by DLM-Creative
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