20th century british art
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20th century british art
Autumn Catalogue 2010
The paintings will be available for viewing on receipt of catalogue Please contact the gallery for prices and availability Our gallery opening hours are Monday to Friday, 10am to 6pm Viewing can also be arranged outside of these hours
20th century british art
Paisnel Gallery 9 Bury Street, St James's, London sw1y 6ab telephone: 020 7930 9293 email: info@paisnelgallery.co.uk website: www.paisnelgallery.co.uk
This catalogue of thirty paintings and sculptures is representative of the artists we regularly exhibit in the gallery and has been selected from works currently in stock or those recently sold. From icons by acknowledged British masters such as Sir Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon and William Scott to admirable rarities by lesser known artists, Harold Yates and Max Chapman they all share a resonance in their own highly individual associations of place and mood. Together with our usual emphasis on the St Ives movement and Post War Abstraction, we have also included an early Cornish landscape by Sir Cedric Morris and figurative paintings by some artists overdue for re-assessment such as Alfred Daniels and Patrick Procktor.
Index of Artists and Catalogue Numbers
Armstrong, John Bell, Trevor Bradley, Martin Canney, Michael Clatworthy, Robert Chapman, Max Copnall, John Daniels, Alfred Davie, Alan Evans, Merlyn Frost, Terry Hoyland, John Lanyon, Peter MacBryde, Robert Morris, Cedric Newcomb,Mary Plumb,John Procktor, Patrick Reynolds, Alan Rothenstein, Michael Scott, William Tunnard, John Wells, John Wilson, Frank Avray Yates, Harold
15 3 17, 18 7 19, 27 26 28 16 20, 21, 23 10 1, 4 25 2 11 13 14 24 29 12 30 6 8 5 22 9
cat 1
Terry Frost 1915–2003 Yellow & Black Movement, 1952 oil on board 69 x 48 ins (175.3 x 121.9cms) signed, dated and inscribed verso
provenance Purchased from the Artist circa 1991 Private Collection to 2006 exhibited London, Royal Academy of Arts, Terry Frost Six Decades, October–November 2000, cat no 10, illustrated plate 10 literature David Lewis, Terry Frost, Scholar Press Aldershot, 1994, illustrated page 59 Chris Stevens, Terry Frost, Tate Publishing, London 2000, illustrated page 28
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cat 2
Peter Lanyon 1918–1964 Levant Old Mine, 1952 oil on board 47 x 50¾ ins (119.4 x 128.9 cms) signed and dated also signed, dated and inscribed verso
provenance The Artist’s Estate Private Collection 2000–2010 Together with a Private View card showing image of Levant Old Mine sent from Roger and Pat Leigh as a thank you to the sculptor Denis Mitchell and his family on 3rd November 1987. exhibited London, Gimpel Fils, Peter Lanyon, March 1952, cat no 3 Lisbon, Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian, Cornualha, September–October 1984, cat no 1 (British Council Exhibition ) London, Gimpel Fils, Peter Lanyon Selected Works 1952– 1964, October–November 1987 St Ives, Tate Gallery, Peter Lanyon A Coastal Journey, 2000–2001 literature Andrew Causey, Peter Lanyon His Paintings, Aidan Ellis Publishing, 1971, cat 55, page 50 Andrew Lanyon, Peter Lanyon 1918–1964, Penzance, 1990, illustrated page 119 Margaret Garlake, Peter Lanyon, London, 1998, page 44, cat no 36 Chris Stephens, Peter Lanyon, At the Edge of Landscape, London 2000, pages 105–106, cat no 53 Andrew Causey, Peter Lanyon, Modernism and the Land, London 2006, pages 122–123
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cat 3
Trevor Bell Born 1930 Painting with Black Tensions, 1959 oil on canvas 68 x 48 ins (172.7 x 121.9 cms) signed and dated titled on stretcher
exhibited Paris Biennale International, 1959 Winner of International Painting Prize London, Waddington Galleries, Feb 1960, cat no 21
Bell made an important contribution to the younger generation of St Ives’ painters in the 1950s alongside more established peers, Terry Frost and Roger Hilton. Patrick Heron wrote that Bell was, “the best non-figurative painter under thirty in the country”. Painting with Black Tensions is an early example of Bell’s enduring interest in the relationship between shape and colour, a theme he was still exploring when the Tate St Ives held a solo show of his work Beyond Materiality from October 2004 to January 2005.
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cat 4
Terry Frost 1915–2003 Grey and White Figure, 1959 oil on canvas 48 x 25 ins (121.9 x 63.5 cms) signed verso titled and dated on label verso
provenance Private Collection 1990–2009
Grey and White Figure was painted two years after Frost returned to St Ives from Leeds. It was a time of financial security as Frost had signed up with Waddington Galleries in 1958 and there was a growing confidence in Frost’s painting in line with his increasing international recognition. Forms were simplified and Frost, along with Hilton, explored a gradual introduction of references to the figure whilst still managing to remain essentially abstract. The use of a wedge to tighten form and the brashly applied broad strokes of grey relate strongly to other works of the period; Terre Verte and White Figure (Wakefield Museums and Galleries) and Black Wedge 1959, (Private Collection, Exhibited at Royal Academy 2000, Terry Frost Six Decades, cat no 15).
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cat 5
John Wells 1907–2000 Construction 1960 oil on board 48 x 30 ins (121.9 x 76.2 cms) signed, dated and inscribed verso
exhibited London, Waddington Galleries, September 1960, John Wells, cat no 27, illustrated Bradford, Cartwright Memorial Hall, Spring Exhibition 1961, cat no 106
John Wells played a key role in the development of the artistic community in St Ives and cofounded the Crypt Group in 1946 and the Penwith Society in 1949. Inspired by Nicholson and Hepworth and most importantly by Naum Gabo, he was to become a significant figure in British Constructivism. Construction 1960 was possibly the last in a series of large paintings produced over a decade, starting with Aspiring Forms, 1950 (Tate Gallery Collection), in which Wells used spiralling upright forms that reference his varied interests in Gabo’s parabolic curves, the grace of birds in flight and his pursuit to combine the use of geometric shapes with his depiction of the Cornish landscape.
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cat 6
William Scott 1913–1989 Linear Forms II oil on canvas 48 x 72 ins (121.9 x 182.9 cms) titled label verso painted in 1970 William Scott Archive No 195
provenance Dr and Mrs David Cohen, London Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London 2001 Private Collection 2001–2010 exhibited London, Tate Gallery, William Scott: Paintings, Drawings and Gouaches 1938–71, April–May 1972, cat no 103 London, Royal Academy, British Painting 1952–77, September–November 1977, cat no 323 Dublin, Irish Museum of Modern Art, William Scott: Paintings and Drawings, July–November 1998, cat no 75 literature Tate Gallery 1972, William Scott: Paintings, Drawings and Gouaches 1938–71, pages 31 & 62, cat no 103, illustratrated page 31 Royal Academy 1977, British Painting 1952–1977, page 109, cat no 323 Dublin, Irish Museum of Modern Art, William Scott: Paintings and Drawings, M. Tooby and S. Morley 1998, page 105, cat no 75, illustrated Norbert Lynton, William Scott, London, 2004, page 325
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cat 7
Michael Canney 1923–1999 Construction No 9 oil on board 14¾ x 15 ins (37.5 x 38.1 cms) signed and inscribed verso
provenance Belgrave Gallery, St Ives
Along with many artists working in the late 1950s, there was a period of indecision for Canney when he was unsure how to assimilate the numerous influences he had been exposed to both in London and Cornwall. Roger Hilton encouraged him to pursue his abstract ambitions and in 1966 Paul Feiler invited him to join the West of England College of Art where he developed his Constructivist interests, including the principles of mathematics and geometry. Compositions such as Construction No 9 are asymmetric and rely on the use of clear colour and shape, though some ‘feathered edges’ soften the overall hard-edged approach.
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cat 8
John Tunnard 1900–1971 A Tumult, 1961 gouache and pencil 15 x 22 ins (38.1 x 55.9 cms) signed and dated title inscribed verso Tunnard Ledger 61/G2
provenance McRoberts & Tunnard, London, where purchased by the previous owner, December 1961 literature Alan Peat & Brian Whitton, John Tunnard His Life and Work, Scholar Press 1997, page 195, no 773
The 1960s saw Tunnard’s Surrealist interest in endless space turn to an increasing fascination with outer space. His cosmically inspired imagination was rewarded with a marked revival of interest in his work by commercial galleries, notably McRoberts and Tunnard in 1959, 1961 and 1964 and with Durlacher Gallery in New York in 1960. As with Tumult, most of the paintings from this period are in gouache, a medium in which he technically excelled, and appealed to both collectors and the informed imaginations of scientists and engineers.
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cat 9
Harold Yates 1916–2001 Abstract Composition oil on canvas 10 x 12 ins (25.4 x 30.5 cms) signed with artist’s initials painted circa 1937
exhibited London, Belgrave Gallery, Some of the Moderns, 1990, cat no 31, illustrated page 16
Trained as an illustrator, Yates worked in a commercial studio from the age of seventeen. Becoming disillusioned with this direction, he turned to abstract paintings and produced works of dazzling colour and beautiful form. He held his first one-man show at Foyles Gallery in 1935 and later exhibited with the Artists International Association in London.
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cat 10
Merlyn Evans 1910–1973 Conflict, 1950 watercolour 17 x 22 ins (43.1 x 55.9 cms) signed and dated titled label verso
provenance Private Collection exhibited London, Redfern Gallery and Mayor Gallery, Merlyn Evans 1910–1973, February–March 1988, cat no 42, illustrated page 26
Evans painted more than one version of Conflict. The earlier and larger oil painting The Conflict No 1, 1940 was widely exhibited including Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1956, Marlborough Fine Art, 1968 and Tate Gallery, The Political Paintings of Merlyn Evans, 1985, cat no 17 (illustrated front cover). Based on the general idea of conflict rather than a particular incident, this watercolour is painted with more vivid colour and enhanced background detail.
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cat 11
Robert MacBryde 1913–1966 Still Life oil on canvas 22 x 30 ins (55.9 x 76.2 cms) signed
Colquhoun and MacBryde had visited Picasso’s wartime paintings exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum. MacBryde had, by this time, begun to explore the diversity of European art. In an essay for the Glasgow Print Studio’s exhibition Colquhoun and MacBryde – A Retrospective (1990), John Griffiths suggests how, “MacBryde’s still life paintings are not only influenced by the cubism and rich colour symphonies of Braque and Picasso, but also the rhythms of Celtic design and Scottish colour….”
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cat 12
Alan Reynolds Born 1926 The Village, 1952 watercolour 11 x 13 ins (27.9 x 33 cms) signed and dated also signed, dated and inscribed verso
Alan Reynolds was one of the most significant British painters to emerge in the 1950s and was heralded by critics as ‘the saviour’ of English landscape painting. The following extract has been taken from an article written by J P Hodin on the work of Alan Reynolds in 1962, and particularly relates to the artist and his work from this period. “..his genuine loving attachment to nature, both to landscape as a whole and to its particular shapes and their arrangements, to blossoms and fruit, to grasses and weeds, to leaves and buds, to branches and twigs, and to the varied tree forms which, with their special features, define and characterise a landscape in its various moods.”
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cat 13
Cedric Morris 1889–1982 Zennor, Cornwall, 1932 oil on canvas 20 x 24 ins (50.8 x 61 cms) signed, dated and titled verso
provenance Private Collection Gifted to Millie Hayes at Benton End (label verso) exhibited London Artist’s Association 1932 (label verso)
Morris lived in the tiny hamlet of Zennor, steeped in mythical and ancient history, during 1917 and 1918. He upheld his own stylish integrity despite associating with some of the most prominent avant-garde artists of the 1920s and later painted landscapes in Cornwall and Wales with bold and tactile brushwork.
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cat 14
Mary Newcomb 1922–2008 Landscape with Sheep, 1966 oil on board 12½ x 16 ins (31.8 x 40.6 cms) signed and dated
Showing her passion for the English countryside, this early work from 1966 is a classic example of Mary Newcomb’s paintings from this period. Often called a ‘visionary luminary’ in the way she captured everyday life around her when she was living in a remote farmhouse with her husband and young family in the Waveney Valley on the Norfolk/Suffolk borders.
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cat 15
John Armstrong 1893–1973 The Moon, c.1957 oil on paper 8½ x 12½ ins (21.6 x 31.8 cms) Signed
Painted with his signature square brush technique, The Moon is one of a series painted and exhibited between 1955 and 1957; it was probably the original study for The Balcony, 1957, in which a whimsical self-portrait of the artist stands on a balcony beneath a glowing and benign full moon.
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cat 16
Alfred Daniels born 1924 General Ironworks, Earls Court, 1955 oil on board 37½ x 47½ ins (95.3 x 120.6 cms) signed and dated titled label verso
exhibited London, Chenil Galleries, Industrial Britain Exhibition, Ingot Competition, 10–28 April 1956 literature The Studio, Painting Industrial Britain, April 1956, illustrated page 110
General Ironworks, Earls Court was submitted by Alfred Daniels for a competition held by Richard Thomas & Baldwins Steel and Tinplate Manufacturing Group through its quarterly magazine Ingot. The principle object was to promote interest among artists in Britain’s industrial scene. Judges included L.S. Lowry and James Fitton among other influential artists of that period. Of nearly twelve hundred paintings from artists all over the country, General Ironworks, Earls Court won second prize.
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cat 17
Martin Bradley Born 1931 Little Miss Muffet, 1956 oil on board 29ž x 18 ins (75.6 x 45.7 cms) signed and dated also signed, dated and inscribed verso
provenance London, Gimpel Fils, (label verso)
Overtly rooted in the figurative this mid-fifties work by Bradley hints at parallel development with the paintings of Alan Davie from the same period. Bradley was fond of using unusual supports for his paint; this dry and absorbent slab of chipboard creates a surface of dusty softness across which the oil has been dragged and twisted around the black structures.
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cat 18
Martin Bradley Born 1931 La Annonciation de la Naissance De Tchoung Ni, 1960 oil on canvas 32 x 45½ ins (81.3 x 115.6 cms) signed and dated 1960 titled verso
provenance Galerie Rive Gauche, Paris
This painting by Bradley is more tonally harmonious than many works from the 1960s. Earthbound colours are adorned with his usual symbols, the emblematic language emerging through opaque layers. The year before, in 1959, Bradley had visited and exhibited at the Nabis Gallery in Tokyo and his increasing fascination with Eastern and Oriental culture is reflected in the composition and enigmatic title.
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cat 19
Robert Clatworthy Born 1928 Walking Figure, 1963 bronze with dark brown and green patina 29¼ ins (H) (74.3 cms) signed with artist’s initials on base numbered 1 from edition of 5 conceived and cast in 1963
exhibited London, Waddington Galleries, Robert Clatworthy, 1965
Clatworthy’s walking figures have much in common with the works of Richier and of course Frink, with whom he studied at Chelsea School of Art. He joined Hanover Gallery in the 1950s before moving to Waddington Galleries in the early 1960s. Clatworthy’s first one-man show with Waddington was in 1965 where this cast of Walking Figure was included.
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cat 20
Alan Davie Born 1920 6.20 Special, 1960 oil on canvas 16 x 12 ins (40.6 x 30.5 cms) signed, dated and titled on stretcher verso Opus OG 147A
provenance Collection of Jane Davie
Quintessentially sixties in feel, the 6.20 Special is a new era in Davie’s oeuvre. More defined and less gestural than works from the previous five years, it was one of a number of upright compositions painted in a diminutive scale. Davie excelled at giving substantial presence to small works.
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cat 21
Alan Davie Born 1920 Tower of the Crazy Birds, 1960 oil on canvas 16 x 12 ins (40.6 x 30.5 cms) signed and dated canvas verso title inscribed on stretcher verso Opus OG 147
provenance Collection of Jane Davie exhibited London, Federation of British Artists, September 1962 Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, November–December 1962, cat no 43 (loaned by Miss Jane Davie) literature Alan Bowness, Alan Davie, published 1967, Lund Humphries, cat no 251B, illustrated plate 74
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cat 22
Frank Avray Wilson 1914–2009 Happened oil on canvas 60 x 36 ins (152.4 x 91.4 cms) signed and titled verso
Avray Wilson created a British response to Action Painting and its European counterpart Tachism. Despite Wilson’s protestations that form would emerge “unpredictably and autonomously”, his mark making owes a lot to the natural world, its raw elements, minerals and crystals. With the use of forms and patterns bonded together by an armature of black shapes, Wilson creates a composition that expands endlessly outward reflecting his interest in cosmology and his theories on the universe.
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cat 23
Alan Davie Born 1920 Chameleon Tamer, 1967 oil on board 20 x 24 ins (50.8 x 61 cms) signed, dated and titled inscribed verso Opus OG 360 A
Davie’s paintings from 1967 were charged with a renewed spontaneity. Mythical animals drifted in and out of the compositions and signature motifs were often employed; the thrusting arrow, ovoid eye and striped tally which referenced his increasing interest in Primitive Art.
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cat 24
John Plumb 1927–2008 Emerald, 1965 acrylic on board 48 x 48 ins (121.9 x 121.9 cms) signed, dated and inscribed verso
exhibited Basel, Selected for Exhibition at Kunsthalle Basel, June– September 1965, Kunsthalle Inventory label verso (not included in catalogue)
Painted in the same year that Plumb held a solo exhibition at Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, Emerald is a fusion of his work from the previous two years and the colour field paintings that were to follow between 1965 and 1968. The circular forms, invaded by angular intrusions, gave way to compositions based on the application of pure colour, for colour’s sake, but without the geometric controls of his later work.
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cat 25
John Hoyland Born 1934 15.6.69 acrylic on canvas 84 x 36 ins (213.3 x 91.4 cms) signed and dated 15.6.69 verso
15.6.69 marks the transitional shift in Hoyland’s work between the smooth, flat and often thinly applied colour field paintings of the 1960s and the more exuberant and voluptuous use of acrylic in the 1970s. The present painting is an almost parallel work to 25.4.69 (Tate Gallery Collection) with solid blocks of colour supporting fluid and transparent forms that float above.
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cat 26
Max Chapman 1911–1999 Untitled Abstract 1961 oil on board 48 x 36 ins (121.9 x 91.4 cms) signed label verso
exhibited Zurich, Galerie Walcheturm, Modern Painting, May–June 1961 literature
Chapman’s early output was influenced by his training at Byam Shaw Art School and his founding membership of the Nineteen Thirties Group. Solo exhibitions of his figurative paintings included Storran Gallery, London in 1930 and Leger Gallery, London in 1950 and 1953. By the late 1950s Chapman was fully engaged in the exploration of abstract art and his 1960 exhibition at New Vision Centre Gallery led him to shows in Paris and Galerie Walcheturm in Zurich, now one of the oldest established galleries in Europe and renowned for its cutting edge approach. Untitled Abstract 1961 pre-dates his use of the paradoxical mixture of oil and water-based emulsion, one of his many experimental innovations with this medium.
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cat 27
Robert Clatworthy Born 1928 Horse and Rider, 1955 Bronze with brown patina 20 x 23 ins (50.8 x 58.4 cms) signed with initials on base numbered 1 from edition of 8
provenance Acquired from the Artist
Horse and Rider was conceived seven years before Walking Figure (cat no 19). At first glance it appears primarily figurative, the horse’s form accurately portrayed. On closer inspection Clatworthy has added monumentality with solid abstract additions to both the rider and the animal’s frame.
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cat 28
John Copnall 1928–2007 Abstract Forms on White No 1 oil and collage on canvas 29¾ x 39¾ ins (75.5 x 101 cms) painted circa 1969
provenance The Artist’s Studio Private Collection 2005–2010
Painted in the late 1960s after Copnall’s return to England, Abstract Forms on White No 1 continues the themes of multi-textured surfaces, originally explored in Spain but without the intense earthy colours associated with his Mediterranean experience. Cool layers of paint cover typically torn sections of hessian and dissecting lines, some painted over, hint at his growing awareness of the prevailing influences of American artists.
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cat 29
Patrick Procktor 1936–2003 Venice, 1972 oil on canvas 30 x 51 ins (72.2 x 129.5 cms)
provenance Redfern Gallery 1972 (label verso)
Procktor visited Venice for many years from the 1960s through to the 1980s. This romantic view clearly shows his love for the city and is one of his most important works from this period. An almost identical image titled Riva based on a watercolour from 1971/72 was published as an aquatint in an edition of seventy five. A large mural of Venice can be seen in the Venetian Room at Langans Brasserie near Piccadilly.
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cat 30
Michael Rothenstein 1908–1993 Four Brushes, 1989 wood, paint brushes, and paint boxed 26 x 38 x 3 ins (66 x 96.5 cms) signed
exhibited London, Royal Academy 1992, cat no 75 literature Mel Gooding, Michael Rothenstein Boxes, Art Books International, 1992, pages 71, 72 and 74, illustrated page 72
Before 1960 Rothenstein was best known as a printmaker but the beginnings of boxed assemblage using different elements of print and construction were to mark a dramatic shift in medium and intensity. Four Brushes was one of a series using natural and found objects to startling effect. Possibly a metaphor for the actual process of painting the brushes explode in a blaze of colour with hints of volcanic plumes over a rich blue background.
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20th century british art Published in 2010 by Paisnel Gallery isbn 978-0-9558255-3-8
Paisnel Gallery 9 Bury Street St James’s London sw1y 6ab Telephone: 020 7930 9293 Email: info@paisnelgallery.co.uk www.paisnelgallery.co.uk Š Paisnel Gallery 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: A J Photographics Design: Alan Ward @ www.axisgraphicdesign.co.uk Print: DeckersSnoeck, Antwerp
Cover: Martin Bradley (cat no 18) Front cover flap: John Wells (cat no 5) Back cover flap: Terry Frost (cat no 4) Page 2: Trevor Bell (cat no 3) Opposite: Alan Davie (cat no 20)
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9 Bury Street
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telephone: 020 7930 9293