st i v e s moder n br it ish con t em por a r y
st i v e s mode r n b r i t i sh c on t e m p or a r y
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 All works are framed, images available on request
INDEX OF ARTISTS AND C ATA L O G U E N U M B E R S
Berlin, Sven Butler, Reg Clarke, Jonathan Daniels, Alfred Davis, Leigh Fogell, Robert Fox, Richard Fraser, Donald Hamilton Frost, Sir Terry Gardiner, Jeremy Heath, Adrian Heron, Patrick Hitchens, Ivon Hooper, Jonathan Hoyland, John Ingham, Bryan Joyce, Peter Kingerlee, John Lowndes, Alan Milow, Keith Mitchell, Denis Newcomb, Mary Sutherland, Graham Vaughan, Keith Wallis, Alfred Wells, John Woolcock, Tim Wragg, Gary Wynter, Bryan
3 17 26 13 27 28 30 14 6 22 16, 19 7 10 25 18 9 29 20 2 21 4 15 11 12 1 8 23 24 5
CATALOGUE
1
Alfred Wallis 1855–1942 Steamer Coming into Harbour oil on board 21.5 x 52 cms (8½ x 20½ ins) framed: 38 x 69 cms (15 x 27 ins) PROVENANCE
Ben Nicholson, gifted in May 1963 to Kate Elizabeth Lyons and David Lewis, thence by family descent Crane Kalman Gallery, 2001 Private collections, 2002–2020
With directional brush work and rich impasto, Wallis captures the energy and movement of a steamer ploughing its way into port. This masterpiece of naivety illustrates why he was held in such high esteem by so many accomplished artists including Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood.
St Ives
CATALOGUE
2
Alan Lowndes 1921–1978 Zennor Church signed and dated 1968 titled verso oil on board 51 x 41 cms (20 x 16 ins) framed: 66 x 56 cms (26 x 22 ins) PROVENANCE
Private collection, 2006–2019
Alan Lowndes first settled in Cornwall at Zennor. The church and its location, perched between high moorland and windswept sea cliffs, provided constant inspiration for Lowndes and other artists of the St Ives community, including Peter Lanyon, Barbara Hepworth and, in earlier years, Alfred Wallis. Lowndes resisted engaging with the progressive elements of the Cornish aesthetic, resolutely producing paintings that connected with working traditions and everyday life.
St Ives
CATALOGUE
3
Sven Berlin 1911–1999 Reclining Nude signed pencil and wash 20 x 51 cms (8 x 20 ins) framed: 39 x 70 cms (15½ x 27½ ins)
Reclining Nude, a spontaneous and free-flowing sketch, is in all probability a study for sculpture. Sven Berlin was a painter, sculptor, poet and author. Moving to St Ives in 1938 he soon befriended many artists, among them Ben Nicholson, Terry Frost and Bernard Leach. A founder member of the Crypt Group and Penwith Society, his passionate and bohemian presence was recognised by many in St Ives. Berlin also published essays and a book on the artist he most admired, Alfred Wallis.
St Ives
CATALOGUE
4
Denis Mitchell 1912–1993 Carrack signed with initials, titled and dated 1961 on base artist’s cast from an edition of 6 bronze on slate base height: 99 cms (39 ins) PROVENANCE
Private collection, 1992–2018 EXHIBITIONS
Bristol, Arnolfini Gallery, Denis Mitchell, 25 March – 26 April 1967, cat no 4 (another cast) Swansea, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery & Museum, Festival Exhibition of Sculpture by Denis Mitchell, 6 October – 3 November 1979, cat no 5 (another cast)
Mitchell shared parallel interpretations of his surroundings with the artist John Wells, from their studio in Newlyn. Carrack’s upright forms reference the grace of bird flight in paintings by Wells and the exploration of parabolic curves introduced to the St Ives movement by Naum Gabo.
St Ives
CATALOGUE
5
Bryan Wynter 1915–1975 Confluence II signed, titled and dated 1965 verso oil on canvas 142 x 112 cms (56 x 44 ins) framed: 147 x 116.5 cms (58 x 46 ins) PROVENANCE
Christies London, November 2002 Crane Kalman Gallery, 2003 Private collection, 2003–2019 EXHIBITIONS
London, Arts Council of Great Britain, Hayward Gallery, Bryan Wynter 1915–1975 Paintings, Kinetics and Works on Paper, August 1976, cat no 62, illustrated London, Crane Kalman Gallery, Against the Trend, 22 May – 28 June 2003, cat no 1
The Confluence and parallel Meander series of paintings both reference the fluid and luminous qualities of water, an element that was a source of constant fascination throughout Wynter's life.
St Ives
CATALOGUE
6
Terry Frost 1915–2003 Standard Banbury signed, titled and dated 1965 verso oil on canvas 152 x 254 cms (60 x 100 ins) framed: 165 x 267 cms (65 x 105 ins) PROVENANCE
Purchased directly from the artist circa 1993 Private collection, London, 1993–2005 Private collection, 2005–2020
Arguably one of the largest and most important paintings that Terry Frost produced in the 1960s, Standard Banbury represents a distillation of preceding symbols and forms coupled with references to the heraldic banners Frost so admired at Compton Wynyates, a Tudor country house near his home in Banbury. With their chevrons and frieze-like borders, the abstract motifs articulate Frost's personalised and complex vocabulary.
St Ives
CATALOGUE
7
Patrick Heron 1920–1999 May 1965 dated May 1965 verso oil on canvas 183 x 91.5 cms (72 x 36 ins) framed: 192 x 100 cms (75½ x 39½ ins) PROVENANCE
The artist's estate Private collection, 2003–2020 EXHIBITIONS
London, Waddington Galleries, Patrick Heron Works from 1956 to 1969, 13 February – 16 March 2002, cat no 20 London, Jonathan Clark Fine Art, Modern British, Autumn 2003, cat no 49
As Patrick Heron increasingly engaged with abstraction, in part inspired by Sam Francis, he realised his belief that colour was the single direction left for painting, and that progressive artists should pursue work devoid of superfluous rhetoric. May 1965 was central to this development, where floating and asymmetric shapes with limited textural surface became the main elements of simplified composition. Heron found the large areas of flat colour both emotive and deeply expressive.
St Ives
CATALOGUE
8
John Wells 1907–2000 Sequence signed, titled and dated 1968 verso oil and pencil on board 51 x 40.5 cms (20 x 16 ins) framed: 66 x 56 cms (26 x 22 ins) EXHIBITIONS
Cornwall, Tate St Ives, John Wells the Fragile Cell, 2 May – 1 November 1998, cat no 47
John Wells played a key role in the development of the artistic community in St Ives, co-founding the Crypt Group and the Penwith Society of Arts. Inspired by Nicholson, Hepworth and Naum Gabo, he became a significant figure in 20th century British art. In the 1960s he embarked on a method of painting using primary numbers to divide the pictorial space. Sequence is one such work with seven boxes formed in each direction, applied with graded colours to emphasize visual tautness and depth.
St Ives
CATALOGUE
9
Bryan Ingham 1936–1997 Auf Wiedersehen signed estate stamp verso collage and mixed media on card 20 x 9.5 cms (8 x 3¾ ins) framed: 35 x 24 cms (13½ x 9½ ins)
At the invitation of friends, Ingham travelled to Worpswede on the north German coast in the late 1980s and enjoyed his time there so much he became a frequent visitor. Auf Wiedersehen was one of the last collages that he produced following his final visit to Germany and his permanent return to Cornwall.
St Ives
CATALOGUE
10
Ivon Hitchens 1893–1979 Poppies & Cineraria painted circa 1937 estate stamp verso oil on canvas 76 x 51 cms (30 x 20 ins) framed: 96 x 71 cms (38 x 28 ins) PROVENANCE
The artist's estate Jonathan Clark Fine Art, 2007 Private collection, 2007–2019
Hitchens painted flower pieces throughout his career. A master of the genre, he used a keen balance of structure, pattern and colour reminiscent of Braque. Poppies and Cineraria was a favourite and recurring subject, featuring in many of his most colourful compositions from the 1930s through to the 1960s.
Modern British
CATALOGUE
11
Graham Sutherland 1903–1980 Studies for 'Origins of the Land' signed also signed, titled and dated 1950 verso pencil and watercolour 32 x 24 cms (12½ x 9½ ins) framed: 53 x 45 cms (21 x 18 ins) PROVENANCE
Private collection, London, 1995–2007 Corporate collection, 2007–2019
Sutherland’s Origins of the Land, a vast canvas at over 4 x 3 metres, was commissioned for the 1951 Festival of Britain and was the first exhibit visitors saw on entering the pavilion. The painting focused on the core themes of the Festival: geological and social history, and the relationship between the land and the creation of future wealth through modernisation. Sutherland produced a significant number of studies for the painting, predominantly painted in subtle yellow ochre tones. This particular work uses keys to symbolize man’s ability to gain access to material and spiritual wealth.
Modern British
CATALOGUE
12
Keith Vaughan 1912–1977 Figures and Boats signed also titled and dated 1954 verso gouache on card 17 x 14 cms (6¾ x 5½ ins) framed: 40 x 35 cms (16 x 14 ins) PROVENANCE
Osborne Samuel, London, 2012 Private collection, London, 2012–2019
Keith Vaughan was one of the most accomplished British artists working with gouache in the post-war years. Figures and Boats is a typically small-scale observation and one of the finest examples of the period. The early 1950s were auspicious years for Vaughan, with gouaches exhibited at Durlacher Brothers in New York and a retrospective exhibition at the Redfern Gallery in London.
Modern British
CATALOGUE
13
Alfred Daniels 1924–2015 General Ironworks, Earls Court signed and dated 1955 titled label verso oil on board 96.5 x 122 cms (38 x 48 ins) framed: 112 x 137 cms (44 x 54 ins)
General Ironworks, Earls Court was submitted by Alfred Daniels for a competition ran by Ingot, the quarterly magazine of steel producer Richard Thomas & Baldwins Ltd. The main purpose was to promote artistic interest in Britain's industrial culture. Judged amongst others by L S Lowry and James Fitton, Daniels’ work achieved second prize out of twelve hundred entries. This larger than usual painting bears all the hallmarks of Daniels’ idiosyncratic and narrative style.
Modern British
CATALOGUE
14
Donald Hamilton Fraser 1929–2009 East Anglian Landscape signed painted circa 1956 oil on paper laid on board 36 x 46.5 cms (14¼ x 18¼ ins) framed: 52 x 62 cms (20½ x 24½ ins) PROVENANCE
Private collection, 2013–2019
Nicolas de Staël’s London exhibition in 1952 inspired many British artists, including Fraser. The vibrant use of blocked colour and simplified abstracted form remained a hallmark of Fraser’s paintings throughout his early career. Rarely working en plein air, he preferred to develop ideas from memory, capturing the sense of a landscape rather than its geographical details.
Modern British
CATALOGUE
15
Mary Newcomb 1922–2008 Couple on the Rocks signed and dated 1971 also signed, titled and dated verso oil on board 51 x 62 cms (20 x 24½ ins) framed: 63 x 75 cms (25 x 29½ ins) PROVENANCE
Crane Kalman Gallery, London, 1973 Private collection, 1973–2019
Couple on the Rocks was painted shortly after Newcomb’s first solo exhibition at Crane Kalman Gallery. Typically employing flat brushwork and a muted palette, the subject is approached with immediacy and the artist’s unique mix of poetic humour and acute observation.
Modern British
CATALOGUE
16
Adrian Heath 1920–1992 Study, 1958 signed titled and dated 1958 verso oil on canvas 35.5 x 45.5 cms (14 x 18 ins) framed: 53 x 63 cms (21 x 25 ins) PROVENANCE
The artist’s estate Private collection, 2009–2019
Study 1958 is a robust painting characterised by a dynamic interplay between thinned, tonal brushwork, applied with urgency, and structured slabs of impastoed reds and pinks made with a palette knife. During the 1950s, Heath was associated with some of the most avant-garde artists in England, including Victor Pasmore, Anthony Hill and Kenneth Martin. He became the main link between the St Ives movement and the London based painters of the period.
Modern British
CATALOGUE
17
Reg Butler 1913–1981 Girl on a Round Base, 2 stamped with monogram number 3 from an edition of 8 cast in 1964 bronze with dark patina 51 x 53 cms (20 x 21 ins) EXHIBITIONS
London, Gimpel Fils, Musée Imaginaire: Bronzes Middle & Late Period, 10 September – 11 October 1986, cat no 21 (another cast) L I T E R AT U R E
Margaret Garlake, The Sculpture of Reg Butler, published by The Henry Moore Foundation in association with Lund Humphries, 2006, page 165
In the late 1950s, Reg Butler embarked on a series of sculptures which fused large platforms with sensual female forms. Girl on a Round Base, 2, from 1964, continues Butler’s investigation into the juxtaposition of rigidity and movement.
Modern British
CATALOGUE
18
John Hoyland 1934–2011 Wager signed, titled and dated 5.9.76 verso acrylic on cotton duck 101.5 x 76 cms (40 x 30 ins) framed: 114 x 89 cms (45 x 35 ins) PROVENANCE
Cyril Gerber Fine Art, 2007 Private collection, 2008–2019
Hoyland was teaching at Saint Martin's School of Art in the mid-1970s when he painted Wager. Still as resolutely abstract as the thinly applied canvases of the previous decade, these new paintings were richly textural and actively fauve in nature. This work clearly illustrates Hoyland’s ability to combine brave and bold combinations of colour.
Modern British
CATALOGUE
19
Adrian Heath 1920–1992 Study (Avia No 2) signed, titled and dated 1986 verso acrylic and oil on paper laid on board 38 x 30.5 cms (15 x 12 ins) framed: 49 x 41 cms (19½ x 16 ins) PROVENANCE
Jonathan Clark Fine Art to 2007 Private collection, 2007–2019 L I T E R AT U R E
Jane Rye, Adrian Heath, published by Lund Humphries in 2012, cat no 1, page 6 (illustrated)
This small panel has the presence and impact of a much larger painting. Study (Avia No 2) is representative of a late flowering in the 1980s, a period when Heath produced some of his finest works. Whilst traces of the sensuous lines used in the 1960s remain, there is a clear return to the structure and balance of his formative years.
Modern British
CATALOGUE
20
John Kingerlee Born 1936 Kilcatherine Landscape signed with monogram also signed, titled and dated 2005 verso oil on card 19 x 28 cms (7½ x 11 ins) framed: 27 x 37 cms (10½ x 14½ ins) PROVENANCE
Anthony Hepworth Fine Art Private collection, 2006–2019
Moving to Ireland’s Beara Peninsula after twenty years living and working in Cornwall, Kingerlee settled in an isolated farmhouse near the rugged and windswept coast of Kilcatherine in County Cork. This realm of rocks and sea, of immense skies and rolling mists, inspired an abstracted vision where nothing is passive. Successive layers of paint build a surface as timeless and complex as the landscape itself.
Modern British
CATALOGUE
21
Keith Milow Born 1945 Drawing 90/38/23/LD signed and dated 1990 titled label verso oil on copper 76 x 61 cms (30 x 24 ins) framed: 95 x 78 cms (37½ x 31 ins) EXHIBITIONS
California, Pence Gallery, Keith Milow 100 Large Drawings, March – April 1991
Drawing 90/38/23/LD is a classic window into Milow's imaginary world. Planetary orbs hover above an impenetrable backdrop of seemingly ancient oxidised copper, whilst delicate and looping strands float in an ethereal space.
Contemporary
CATALOGUE
22
Jeremy Gardiner Born 1957 Ballard Point No 11 signed, titled and dated 1998 verso acrylic and wood attached to birch panel 122 x 91.5 cms (48 x 36 ins) presented without frame EXHIBITIONS
New York, Neuhoff Gallery, Jeremy Gardiner Ballard Point, 4 – 29 April 2000, cat no 11, travelling to: Dorset, Pier Trust Gallery, 20 May – 4 June 2000 London, Belgrave Gallery, 4 – 16 July 2000
The Ballard Point series originated in 1998, whilst Gardiner was staying at Paul Nash’s former home at No 2, The Parade in Swanage. Gardiner’s take on the view uses a collage of weathered wood and a distinctive palette to emphasise the vast expanse of sea and sky.
Contemporary
CATALOGUE
23
Tim Woolcock Born 1952 Dorset Spring signed with initials and dated 2018 also signed, titled and dated verso oil on panel 60 x 79 cms (23½ x 31 ins) framed: 69 x 88 cms (27 x 34½ ins)
In Dorset Spring, Woolcock has expanded his vocabulary from the green pastures of County Wicklow to the rolling hills of the South West of England. The inclusion of planetary symbols blurs the distinction between earth bound reality and off-world imagination, creating a mystical composition that marries organic and geometric forms.
Contemporary
CATALOGUE
24
Gary Wragg Born 1946 Interior & Now signed, titled and dated 2008–2010 verso acrylic and gel on canvas 160 x 130 cms (63 x 51 ins) framed: 162 x 132 cms (64 x 52 ins) L I T E R AT U R E
Constant Within the Change: Gary Wragg, Five Decades of Painting, published by Sansom & Co. Ltd 2014, Volume II, illustrated page 184
Gary Wragg works in cycles, revisiting previous paintings in a process he describes as ‘going backward to go forward’. This richly coloured canvas painted in 2009, is a direct reference to Still Life: Interior 1967. The pyramid structure evident in Interior and Now is informed by Wragg’s visit to the Mayan temples in Mexico.
Contemporary
CATALOGUE
25
Jonathan S Hooper Born 1962 Gulland Rock: Dusk Squall signed, titled and dated 2015 verso oil on panel 50 x 50 cms (19¾ x 19¾ ins) framed: 55 x 55 cms (21½ x 21½ ins)
From a favoured vantage point on the cliffs of North Cornwall's Pentire peninsula, the shallow dome of Gulland Rock appears to Hooper as if suspended in a scintillating matrix of sea, weather and light. Gulland, this silent sentinel, is an echo of an earlier coastline, a cipher perhaps for both time and space. Dusk Squall is part of a body of work that pursues these universal but fugitive concepts through an intensely personal history of place.
Contemporary
CATALOGUE
26
Jonathan Clarke Born 1961 RĹ?nin seven sculptures each signed and dated 2019 unique set aluminium 35 x 100 cms (14 x 39 ins)
Contemporary
Rōnin was the original name given to masterless Samurai warriors during Japan’s feudal period. Clarke’s playful use of the title references his admiration for Kurosawa’s 1950s classic film, Seven Samurai. On a more philosophical level, the piece continues Clarke’s exploration of the human drive to self-promotion through artificial means. Clarke is fascinated with figures and the armour they adopt to protect themselves, both in a physical and metaphorical sense.
CATALOGUE
27
Leigh Davis Born 1976 Facing the Sea, No 2 signed also signed, titled and dated 2019 verso acrylic on linen laid on panel 70 x 70 cms (27½ x 27½ ins) framed: 76 x 76 cms (30 x 30 ins)
Over a cool background of subdued colour, Davis has layered a rigid structure of dark armatures that create the allusion of sculptured form. Cornish in influence, the composition speaks of the land itself.
Contemporary
CATALOGUE
28
Robert Fogell Born 1963 Solar II stamped with initials number 2 from an edition of 5 cast in 2019 bronze on stone base 21 x 32 cms (8¼ x 12½ ins)
Solar II suggests movement and power, with horizontal lines flowing backward in a manner reminiscent of a comet’s tail. Once again, Fogel has achieved a natural rhythm between positive and negative mass.
Contemporary
CATALOGUE
29
Peter Joyce Born 1964 Salt Marsh signed with initials and dated 2020 also signed, titled and dated verso acrylic on canvas 90 x 125 cms (35½ x 49¼ ins) framed: 94 x 129 cms (37 x 51 ins)
Inspired by the salt marshes of the Marais breton on France’s Atlantic coast, in this work Joyce captures the constantly changing colours of the pools and shallow basins strung out across the flatlands. Earthen hues mix with subtle sea blues to create a composition of great charm.
Contemporary
CATALOGUE
30
Richard Fox Born 1965 Bronze Ravel XI signed and titled number 1 from an edition of 9 cast in 2020 bronze on English oak base height: 26 cms (10Âź ins)
This small scale bronze is the first in a series conceived in 2020. The typically elegant composition, in patinated bronze, encourages the viewer toward tactile engagement: rotating the work on a central spindle allows it to be viewed from different perspectives.
Contemporary
ST IVES MODERN BRITISH CONTEMPOR ARY
Published in 2020 The Nine British Art ISBN 978-1-9995993-5-5 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: catalogue 20 John Kingerlee, Kilcatherine Landscape Front cover flap: catalogue 7, Patrick Heron, May 1965 with catalogue 4, Denis Mitchell, Carrack Back cover flap: catalogue 10, Ivon Hitchens, Poppies & Cineraria with catalogue 17, Reg Butler, Girl on a Round Base, 2
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