Brian Horton
2014
4 Mist, River Dawn near Cliveden, c. 2004
mixed media 35 x 48 cms 133⁄4 x 187⁄8 ins
foreword A gentle, soft-spoken man, who actually just celebrated his 80th birthday, Brian retains an enthusiastic curiosity about the world around him that radiates from both his character and his work. He maintains a deep commitment to painting what he calls the “mystery” of landscape. “It becomes such a basic part of one’s life to remember the patterns one sees in the landscape”, he explains. “I try to delve into the mystery.” His natural intuition began when he was a child and an early engagement with nature was key to his artistic development. “I was a boy during the Second World War and we had a farm in Worcestershire”, he says. “I was extremely impressed by the farm; I used to go out, very much on my own, and loved it. It was wartime and there was a shortage of petrol; the horses did the work. I will always remember three lovely horses pulling this plough.”
Over three decades have passed since Brian Horton had his first show at our Beaconsfield gallery. Now Messum’s most long-standing artist, Brian is part of our history, but, more importantly, he is nationally recognised as one of Britain’s true ‘romantic’ landscape painters, thanks in no small part to the survey of his life and work recently published by well-known art critic, Andrew Lambirth: Brian Horton: Blue Remembered Hills (2012). There is something uniquely and consistently English about Brian’s work. His eye for the mystical is rooted in Samuel Palmer, but also extends into the traditions of Paul and John Nash. There’s something visionary in Brian’s use of pure colour and the way birds, boats and flowers appear to grow out of his softly shifting hills, skies and shores. No matter how many times I see one of his landscapes, I find something new, even fascinating. They’re a bit like watching fast-motion footage of a flower bloom or a seedpod burst: it’s natural, but still a bit magical.
Poetry also remains an important influence, particularly A. E. Housman and Edward Thomas. “I read Housman’s A Shropshire Lad at school. I think that he is a fascinating poet and, by and large, his work is extremely easy to understand. The trouble with Housman is there is a lot of relentless sadness. I think I like to hope, really. I would like people to get [from my work]… a message of encouragement.” This show features two of Brian’s rare early oils: May Farm with Blossom and Sheep (c. mid-1960s) and Sunflowers and a Patchwork Cloth (c. 1970) alongside recent paintings in gouache and mixed media, and drawings in crayon and pencil. All of these works express the romance and dreamlike beauty of the English countryside, but are still rooted in the here and now. “I don’t like to be too nostalgic, although most people must feel nostalgic for something” he says. “I do refer to memory but, when I work, I am always thinking of what I am, what I am doing, right here, right now.” DM
15 Stanton, Evening Light, 2006 gouache 51 x 65 cms 201⁄8 x 255⁄8 ins
16 Cornfield Edge, Cotswold, 2005 gouache 35 x 43 cms 13 3⁄4 x 167⁄8 ins
53 Irish Yews & Garden Snow, 1990 gouache 53 x 73 cms 20 5⁄8 x 28 3⁄4 ins
54 Summer Evening, Tresco, 2009 gouache 28 x 33 cms 11 x 123â „4 ins