St Ives & Post War

St Ives & Post War

St Ives & Post War

St Ives & Post War

9 Bury Street, St James’s, London sw1y 6ab telephone:

020 7930 9293 email: info@theninebritishart.co.uk website: www.theninebritishart.co.uk

All paintings and sculpture are available for sale on receipt of this catalogue Please contact the gallery for prices and availability Gallery hours: Monday – Friday, 10am – 6pm Saturdays and late viewings by arrangement

Paisnel Gallery becomes The Nine British Art

We are delighted to present our annual Summer Exhibition here at 9 Bury Street, focusing on the diversity and creativity of St Ives and post-war British art.

Our regular St Ives artists are well represented. John Tunnard’s Pipe Fish is a deft straddling of the divide between invention and surrealism, John Forrester’s Space Curves is a complex collusion of intersecting arcs, whilst Denis Mitchell’s Talmore is an elegant interpretation of ancient monoliths.

Nearing the end of the century, Maurice Cockrill’s Green Fuse cyphers a flow of vital energy through the brush, whilst Richard Fox’s sensual bronze carves through space and Jeremy Gardiner’s Ballard Point deconstructs and sharpens coastal curves.

Although we have been successfully promoting British art for over forty years, it is really during the last decade at 9 Bury Street, St James’s that we have concentrated on postwar abstraction. The gallery has sold and brokered some of the most important works produced by Sandra Blow, Alan Davie, Paul Feiler, Terry Frost and Adrian Heath, as well as re-establishing the profiles of Vera Spencer, John Plumb and Frank Avray Wilson.

During this time, it has become clear that we are not only enjoying a reputation for championing work of the post-war period, but are also experiencing a burgeoning interest in art from the 1970s onwards. As the breadth and scope of our exhibitions and collections have grown, the time also feels right to renew the image of the gallery.

To recognise the importance of our gallery location in that progression, we have chosen The Nine British Art as the new flagship name under which we will continue and refresh our commitment to showcasing fine British painters and sculptors.

With a more contemporary name comes more contemporary aspirations. Befittingly, The Nine British Art will continue our current specialisation whilst pursuing a greater emphasis on artists active in the 21st century. We will be expanding our associations with the painters Leigh Davis, Jeremy Gardiner, Tim Woolcock and Gary Wragg, and sculptors Jonathan Clarke, Robert Fogell and Richard Fox, as well as actively nurturing the talents of emerging artists with greater potential for recognition.

Welcome to the Nine British Art!

Stephen Paisnel

index of artists and catalogue numbers

Bradley, Martin Canney, Michael Clarke, Jonathan Cockrill, Maurice Copnall, John Denny, Robyn Fogell, Robert Forrester, John Fox, Richard Fraser, Donald Hamilton Frost, Terry Gardiner, Jeremy Gore, Frederick Hanney, Clifford Heath, Adrian Hitchens, Ivon Hoskin, John Ingham, Bryan Meadows, Bernard Middleditch, Edward Mitchell, Denis Moore, Henry Mount, Paul

Scott, William Tunnard, John Turnbull, William Waters, Billie Woolcock, Tim

21 7 30 25 22 17 28 5 27 14 6, 11 26 13 4 19 24 20 9 15 23 8, 12 18 10 3 1 16 2 29

cat 1

John Tunnard (1900–1971) Pipe Fish gouache signed and dated 1955 titled verso 11 x 15 ins (28 x 38 cms) provenance The Artist’s Estate, circa 1972, thence by descent Private Collection to 2018

Throughout his career, John Tunnard revealed a special interest in natural history and regularly included birds, insects and particularly fish in his compositions. The mystery of life beneath the surface and the irrational juxtaposition of the fish resonated with both his surreal tendencies and the significant time he spent on the Cornish coast. Sea Bed (1947), Shoal of Fish (1953) and Spider Crab (1955) were other notable examples of this genre.

cat 2

Billie Waters (1895–1965) Mediterranean Farms tempera and gouache signed painted in the 1950s 15 x 20 ins (38 x 51 cms)

Billie Waters was an inveterate traveller. After settling in St Ives during World War II, she embarked on numerous trips abroad funded by successful exhibitions in London at the Leicester Galleries and Royal Academy. France, Spain (including the Balearics), Italy and Greece were all on her itinerary, where she often drew inspiration for distinctive paintings of rural life. Her use of dry and chalky gouache is both evocative and pertinent to the subject in this painting.

cat 3

William Scott (1913–1989) Face and Flowers oil on canvas on board signed and dated 1942 titled label verso 7 x 10 ins (18 x 25.5 cms) provenance Leger Galleries, London Mr Austin Trevor The artist, John Pawle Anthony Hepworth Fine Art, Bath Private Collection 2009–2018 exhibited London, RBA Galleries, AIA Members Exhibition, 7 – 27 February 1942, cat no 163 London, Leger Galleries, Paintings by William Scott, 9 – 20 September 1942, cat no 25 literature Sarah Whitfield, William Scott Catalogue Raisonné of Oil Paintings, 1913–1951, Thames & Hudson in association with William Scott Foundation, illustrated page 118

Painted in 1942, the year of Scott’s first solo exhibition at Leger Galleries, Face and Flowers is one of a series which include portraits of his wife Mary. The composition clearly illustrates Scott’s preoccupation with subtle stylisation and reduction of form.

cat 4

Clifford Hanney (1890–1990) St Ives Bay, Godrevy Lighthouse oil on canvas signed painted circa 1939 20 x 26 ins (51 x 66 cms)

Hanney studied art at Southampton and Bristol and was a founder member of the Bristol Art Club.

He spent long summers travelling and painting throughout the West Country, especially at Godrevy near St Ives, where he became acquainted with resident artists Julius Olsson and Arthur Hayward. St Ives Bay, Godrevy Lighthouse is very typical of his fresh palette, well suited to the unique light conditions of the Cornish peninsula.

cat 5

John Forrester (1922–2002) Space Curves oil on board signed, dated Jan 1954 and titled verso 37 x 24¾ ins (94 x 63 cms) provenance Private Collection 2010–2018

John Forrester left his native New Zealand in 1953 to settle in St Ives. Exhibiting at the Penwith Society and the influential Downing’s Bookshop, he used his architectural background and the influence of Ben Nicholson to pursue Constructivist principles.

During his time in St Ives, Forrester was included in ‘British Painters and Sculptors of 1954’ at the Whitechapel Gallery prior to his solo exhibition at Gimpel Fils (London) in 1955. A restless spirit, he left Cornwall in 1958 in favour of living in Paris and then Sienna where his work became informed by urban culture. Space Curves, with its incised surfaces and complex interlocking forms, is an early and rare example of the artist’s oeuvre.

cat 6

Terry Frost (1915–2003) Laced Grace oil, collage and leather on canvas signed, dated November ’62 and titled verso 24 x 20 ins (61 x 51 cms) provenance Waddington Galleries (label verso) Belgrave Gallery, London to 2012 Private Collection 2014–2018 exhibited London, Tate Gallery, British Paintings in the Sixties, 1963, cat no 31 The Arts Council of Great Britain and South West Arts, Terry Frost, Paintings, Drawings and Collages, cat no 30 touring to: Plymouth City Art Gallery, November – December 1976 Bristol, Royal West of England Academy, December 1976 – January 1977 London, Serpentine Gallery, February – March 1977 Chester, Chester Arts Centre, March – April 1977 Newcastle, Laing Art Gallery, April – May 1977 Leeds City Art Gallery, May – June 1977 Birmingham City Art Gallery, July 1977 London, Belgrave Gallery, Terry Frost, 1994, cat no 21 London, Royal Academy, Terry Frost Six Decades, 12 October – 12 November 2000, cat no 21 literature David Lewis, Terry Frost, Scolar Press, 1994, illustrated page 21 Royal Academy of Arts, Terry Frost Six Decades, illustrated page 57

cat 7

Michael Canney (1923–1999) Composition with Gold Line oil on canvas signed and dated 1970 verso 36 x 30 ins (91.5 x 76 cms) provenance Belgrave Gallery, London 2007

In 1966 Canney was invited by Paul Feiler to join the West of England College of Art in Bristol, where he developed his Constructivist interests, including the principles of mathematics and geometry. These paintings, such as Composition with Gold Line of 1970, are asymmetric, with clear blocks of colour, and the surfaces are smooth, even polished. The method was constantly refined as he honed his technical skills.

cat 8

Denis Mitchell (1912–1993) Talmore bronze on slate base signed with artist’s initials, dated 1974 and titled on base number 2 from an edition of 7 24½ ins (h) (62 cms) provenance Marjorie Parr Gallery, London 1975 Private Collection 1975–2018 exhibited London, Marjorie Parr Gallery, Denis Mitchell, 2 – 24 May 1975, cat no 6 Bath, Festival Gallery, Denis Mitchell Sculptures 1950–1978, April 1978, cat no 33 (another cast) Swansea, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery & Museum, Festival Exhibition of Sculpture

by Denis Mitchell, 6 Oct – 3 Nov 1979, cat no 30 (another cast)

Talmore embodies Denis Mitchell’s preference for vertical orientation and aspiring form, the twin columns enhanced by polished shallow curves.

The result is both structural and elegant.

cat 9

Bryan Ingham (1936–1997) Landscape oil, gesso and mixed media on board dated October 1979 verso 36 x 48 ins (91.5x 122 cms) provenance The Artist’s Estate exhibited London, Jonathan Clark Fine Art, Bryan Ingham 1936–1997, June – July 2010, cat no 13

An innovator in many media, Ingham’s work concentrates on both real and implied space within the surface of the painting. With final studies at the British Academy in Rome, his interests and aspirations were to include the work of Kurt Schwitters. In this painting he further develops his technique with the use of heavy cloudy plaster and delicate stippling of colour.

cat 10

Paul Mount (1922–2009) Vertical Forms stainless steel on slate unique created circa 1979 42½ ins (h) (108 cms) provenance The Artist circa 1998 Private Collection to 2018

From his studio in St Just, Paul Mount initially worked in cast iron and bronze before adopting stainless steel as his favoured medium. Vertical Forms undeniably experiments with positive and negative space and mass. The interaction between the near symmetrical columns is enhanced with highly reflective surfaces.

cat 11

Terry Frost (1915–2003) Red, Black, White Squeeze acrylic on canvas collage signed, dated 1993 and titled verso 20 x 44½ ins (51 x 113 cms) provenance Belgrave Gallery London, 2004 Private Collection 2004–2017

The two principle elements of this work can be traced back to Frost’s early career. Twin semi-circles hark back to the hulls of boats and the compressed verticals reference the Leeds period of abstract compositions with linear intersections. Whilst the Squeeze Series were also produced in paint and print form, they were at their most effective when Frost used corrugated canvas collage.

cat 12

Denis Mitchell (1912–1993) Veor polished bronze on slate base signed with initials, dated 1986 and titled on base artist’s cast from an edition of 7 6¼ ins (h) (16 cms) provenance Private Collection, circa 1990–2016 exhibited London, Gillian Jason Gallery, Denis Mitchell A Retrospective, Sculptures 1951–1990, 11 July – 10 August 1990 cat no 33 (another cast)

Veor is a classic example of Mitchell’s small-scale bronzes. With perfectly balanced convex form, the surface reflection brings elegance to a structure basically inspired by a standing stone or menhir.

Paradoxically, the translation of the Cornish word ‘veor’ is ‘large’ or ‘great’.

cat 13

Frederick Gore (1913–2009) Olive Trees Near Les Baux-de-Provence oil on canvas signed titled on canvas overlap painted circa 1954 23 x 30 ins (58.5 x 76 cms) provenance Purchased directly from the artist in 2006 Private Collection 2006–2018

Olive Trees near Les Baux-de-Provence is an iconic example of Gore’s early painting. Initially visiting the province in 1937, he returned to the beautiful and dramatic landscapes almost every year between 1946 and 1960. The body of work produced from this era was characterised by a Fauve palette and experimentation with distorted perspectives.

cat 14

Donald Hamilton Fraser (1929–2009) Beach, Evening oil on card laid on canvas signed with artist’s initials titled and dated May 1954 on stretcher 14¼ x 17½ ins (36 x 44.5 cms)

Angular panels of colour fracture to reveal a boat in Fraser’s Beach, Evening, with the tip of the bow jutting forwards and forming the centre of the piece. Donald Hamilton Fraser worked from memory when creating his landscapes and seascapes rather than the more traditional en plein air technique. This ensured his careful distillation of atmosphere into a few markmaking gestures, carved out with impastoed paint and a palette knife.

cat 15

Bernard Meadows (1915–2005) Seated Armed Figure, 1962 bronze stamped with artist’s initials number 6 from an edition of 6 17½ x 16 ins (44.5 x 41cms) provenance Gimpel Fils, London, 1964 Private Collection USA, 1964–2017 exhibited Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, 13 May – 21 June 1965, Roger Hilton, Gwyther Irwin, Bernard Meadows, Joe Tilson, cat no 53 (another cast) literature Alan Bowness, Bernard Meadows, Sculpture and Drawings, published by The Henry Moore Foundation in association with Lund Humphries 1995, BM81, page 142, illustrated page 143

By the 1960s Meadows’ metaphorical startled birds had been replaced by direct figurative references as seen in Seated Armed Figure.

The figure radiates power and formidable presence and was part of a series of masculine stereotypes, including Tycoon and Armed Bust: Brutus.

cat 16

William Turnbull (1922–2012) 28-1959 oil on canvas titled and dated label verso 40¼ x 30 ins (102 x 76 cms) provenance Private Collection 2012–2017 exhibited London, Molton Gallery, William Turnbull Paintings, 10 August – 3 September 1960 (catalogue not traced)

Turnbull believed that his paintings were to be viewed as objects, ‘in their own right’ with no referential aspect. Frequently using divided compositions and numbers rather than titles, he achieved a sculptural quality in 28-1959 with hard edge forms of deep blue and red locked together in the pictorial space.

cat 17

Robyn Denny (1930–2014) Collage 9 mixed media and collage signed and dated 1957 26½ x 30¼ ins (67 x 77 cms)

This striking collage was created in 1957, the year that Denny exhibited in Metavisual, Tachiste Abstract – Painting in Britain Today, also producing the iconic poster for the exhibition.

Inspired by American culture and art, with its non-conformist attitudes to politics, there is a rhythm between layered fragmented forms that speaks of a creative freedom.

cat 18

Henry Moore (1898–1986) Snake Head bronze on ebonised base conceived in 1961 from an edition of 6 5¾ ins (h) 15 cms provenance Sothebys, October 1988 Bernard Jacobson Collection 1988–2014 Private Collection 2014–2017 literature Alan Bowness, Henry Moore, Sculpture and Drawings, Vol 3, cat no 495, illustrated page 54, published by Lund Humphries 1965, with introduction by Herbert Read.

Moore produced a significant number of smallscale bronzes, many as maquettes, but often, as in the case of Snake Head, as finished works in their own right. Animals, birds and reptiles were an inspiration for many. Head of Serpent is in the permanent collection of the Tate Gallery.

cat 19

Adrian Heath (1920–1992) Painting 1961 oil on canvas signed and dated verso 60 x 40 ins (152.5 x 102 cms) provenance The Artist’s Estate Private Collection 2007–2018 exhibited London, Jonathan Clark Fine Art, Adrian Heath Paintings from the early Sixties, 26 September – 12 October 2007, cat no 16 literature Jane Rye, Adrian Heath published by Lund Humphries 2012, cat no 120, page 150 (illustrated)

In the 1960s Heath graduated from geometric analytical abstraction to an approach rooted in organic form, with a more expressive and gestural vocabulary. In Painting 1961, the rich and exuberant palette of warm tones are both spontaneous and sensual.

cat 20

John Hoskin (1921–1990) Winged Form welded steel and rods circa 1963 unique 12¼ x 26 ins (31 x 66 cms)

John Hoskin’s fortuitous meeting with Terry Frost whilst travelling to St Ives cemented his desire to pursue a career as an artist. Initially producing figurative sculptures, he progressed to welded steel abstracts with great success. His key period, including Winged Form, resulted in solo exhibitions at both the Grosvenor Gallery and Matthiesen Gallery in London, as well as inclusion in the important exhibition British Sculptors of the 60’s at the Tate Gallery in 1965.

cat 21

Martin Bradley (born 1931) Blue Composition oil on wood (old door) signed and dated 1963 titled verso 33½ x 19½ ins (85 x 49.5 cms) provenance Peter Nahum, Leicester Galleries to 2004 Private Collection 2004–2018

Bradley was fond of using unusual supports for his paintings. This resilient old cupboard door provided an impervious surface upon which he dragged and scraped minimal symbolic references and rich sea blues. With an irreverent disregard for traditional surface preparation, Bradley conjures an undersea world of submerged mystery.

cat 22

John Copnall (1928–2007) Composition with Jeans mixed media and collage on board signed and dated 1967–68 verso 51¼ x 59¼ ins (130 x 150.5 cms) provenance Private Collection, circa 1969–2017 exhibited Oxford, Bear Lane Gallery, John Copnall, 1 – 22 February 1969, cat no 6 literature Bear Lane Gallery, (illustrated catalogue cover)

Copnall had already experimented with the prevailing European trends of Art Informel and Pintura Matérica, where non-artistic materials were incorporated into the composition. The use of a pair of jeans confers a more modern and urban essence than traditional canvas collage.

cat 23

Edward Middleditch (1923–1987) Composition in Blue oil on canvas painted circa 1969 38½ x 33½ ins (98 x 85 cms) provenance Private Collection 2012–2017

In the 1950s Edward Middleditch had a series of shows at Beaux Arts Gallery alongside John Bratby and Derrick Greaves, latterly coined the ‘Kitchen Sink Painters’. Over time his work became increasingly abstracted but his decorative response to nature continued. Composition in Blue is a minimalist translation of a traditional still life subject.

cat 24

Ivon Hitchens (1893–1979) October Roof Painting (no 1) oil on canvas dated 1977 and titled verso estate stamp verso 17 x 43 ins (44 x 109 cms) provenance The Artist’s Estate Private Collection 2012–2017

October Roof Painting (no 1) typifies the artist’s approach in the 1970s when he talked about his paintings as primarily abstract with the subject being of secondary concern. The wide format canvas encourages the viewer to read across the composition, with emphasis on directional brushwork and separate divisions of colour and form.

The ‘roof series’ was so called because Hitchens had a perfect view of the surrounding countryside from the roof of his home at Greenleaves, Petworth.

cat 25

Maurice Cockrill (1936–2013) Green Fuse – from Dilation Series oil on canvas signed, dated 1997 and titled verso 20 x 24 ins (51 x 61 cms) provenance Christies, December 2007 Private Collection 2007–2017

Painted some two years after his major retrospective at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, Green Fuse is part of a significant body of work exploring interlacing grids of linear brushwork. The Dilation Series refers directly to the way the pupils enlarge in response to optical stimuli.

cat 26

Jeremy Gardiner (born 1957) Ballard Point No 2 acrylic and wood attached to birch panel signed, dated 1998 and titled verso 47¾ x 35¾ ins (121 x 91 cms) provenance Belgrave Gallery, London 2002 Private Collection 2002–2017 exhibited New York, Neuhoff Gallery, Jeremy Gardiner Ballard Point, 4 April – 29 April 2000, cat no 2 travelling to: Dorset, Pier Trust Gallery, 20 May – 4 June: London, Belgrave Gallery, 4 July – 16 July literature The Art of Jeremy Gardiner Unfolding Landscape, Ian Collins, Peter Davies, Simon Martin, Christiana Payne, William Varley, published by Lund Humphries 2013, cat no 33, illustrated page 37.

Ballard Point is a long headland in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset. During the 1990s Gardiner painted a series of reliefs on panel, whilst staying in Paul Nash’s former studio on The Parade in Swanage, working both indoors and on the balcony with views out to the bay.

cat 27

Richard Fox (born 1965) Bronze Ravel VIII bronze on sandstone base signed and titled on underside of bronze number 1 from an edition of 9 cast in 2018 34 ins (h) (86 cms) provenance Acquired directly from the artist

In his most recent and largest bronze, Fox has used an instinctive understanding of space and mass.

Building on previous flowing forms, the artist has created a delicate and vertical composition of soaring beauty.

cat 28

Robert Fogell (born 1963) Large Form with Curved Edge bronze stamped with artist’s initials number 1 from an edition of 5 cast in 2017 20¼x 23¼ ins (51.5 x 59 cms) provenance Acquired directly from the artist

This large hollow cast bronze epitomises Fogell’s use of combed lines to the inner surface of the ovoid form, reminiscent of geological striations caused by erosion or weathering.

cat 29

Tim Woolcock (born 1952) Blue Fluency oil on panel signed with artist’s initials and dated 2016 titled verso 30 x 23½ ins (76 x 60 cms) provenance Acquired directly from the artist

This example of Woolcock’s oeuvre is still rooted in his Constructivist principles but has a more playful message. Reminiscent of a stained glass window, the shards of colour in broken forms are bound with fluid structures.

cat 30

Jonathan Clarke (born 1961) Connection bronze on slate base signed with artist’s initials and dated 2018 unique 18½ ins (h) (47 cms) provenance Acquired directly from the artist

Connection is a classic example of Clarke’s progression to bronze from his more familiar medium of aluminium. Noted for large-scale commissions, Clarke also has a personal and expressive talent for small-scale abstracted figures. An enduring theme in these unique bronzes is the interaction and relationship between two figures.

gallery artists

st ives and post war Wilhelmina Barns-Graham

Patrick Heron

Trevor Bell

Roger Hilton

Sandra Blow

Ivon Hitchens

Frank Bowling

John Hoyland

Martin Bradley

Henry Inlander

John Bratby

Peter Lanyon

Michael Canney

Alan Lowndes

Patrick Caulfield

Alexander Mackenzie

Lynn Chadwick

John Minton

Max Chapman

Victor Pasmore

Prunella Clough

John Piper

Maurice Cockrill

John Plumb

Bernard Cohen

Alan Reynolds

John Copnall

Michael Rothenstein

William Crozier

Graham Sutherland

Alan Davie

Joe Tilson

Robyn Denny

Julian Trevelyan

Richard Eurich

John Tunnard

Paul Feiler

Keith Vaughan

John Forrester

Billie Waters

Terry Frost

John Wells

William Gear

Frank Avray Wilson

Frederick Gore

Christopher Wood

Adrian Heath

Bryan Wynter

sculptors

contemporary painters and sculptors

Robert Adams

Jonathan Clarke

Reg Butler

Leigh Davis

Lynn Chadwick

Robert Erskine

Geoffrey Clarke

Robert Fogell

Robert Clatworthy

Richard Fox

Elizabeth Frink

Jeremy Gardiner

Peter King

Glenn Hellman

Bryan Kneale

Keith Milow

Bernard Meadows

Debbie Urquhart

John Milne

Deborah van der Beek

Denis Mitchell

Tim Woolcock

Paul Mount

Gary Wragg

Leon Underwood Brian Wall Brian Willsher

The gallery is a member of the Society of London Art Dealers

St Ives & Post-War Published in 2018 The Nine British Art (the trading name of Paisnel Gallery Ltd) isbn 978-1-9995993-0-0 The Nine British Art 9 Bury Street St James’s London sw1y 6ab Telephone: 020 7930 9293 Email: info@theninebritishart.co.uk www.theninebritishart.co.uk Š The Nine British Art All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without first seeking the written permission of the copyright holders and of the publisher.

Photography: Paul Tucker Photography Design: Alan Ward @ www.axisgraphicdesign.co.uk Print: Graphius, Ghent

Cover: cat 14 Donald Hamilton Fraser Beach, Evening (detail) Front Flap: cat 8 Denis Mitchell Talmore Back Flap: cat 27 Richard Fox Bronze Ravel VIII

9 bury street st james’s london sw1y 6ab www.theninebritishart.co.uk