Description:

George Peter Lanyon
Britain (1918-1964)
Old Farm, Bowjewyan, From Above (Memory)
Pastel on paper
Possibly initialled lower right (beneath matt)
Remnants of artist label verso

  • Provenance: The ancient village of Bojewyan, is just outside St Just in Cornwall

    George Peter Lanyon (8 February 1918 – 31 August 1964) was a British painter of landscapes leaning heavily towards abstraction. Lanyon was one of the most important artists to emerge in post-war Britain. Despite his early death at the age of forty-six he achieved a body of work that is amongst the most original and important reappraisals of modernism in painting to be found anywhere. Combining abstract values with radical ideas about landscape and the figure, Lanyon navigated a course from Constructivism through Abstract Expressionism to a style close to Pop. He also made constructions, pottery and collage.

    Lanyon was fortunate to have roots in an area that had, as a result of the onset of war, become one of the main centres of British avant-garde art, with its hub in St Ives. Having briefly attended art schools in Penzance and then the Euston Road School, Lanyon was also fortunate to be taken under the wing of Ben Nicholson, who had moved to the coastal town with his wife, Barbara Hepworth, in 1939. Lanyon's visual education was interrupted, however, by the outbreak of hostilities, and he served in the RAF for the duration of the Second World War. There is a sense of urgency and an emphasis on sensation that give his paintings an immense charge, a quality no doubt heightened by the experiences and situations encountered while on active service. Most importantly, there is an understanding of the landscape as if from the air (in 1959 he became a gliding enthusiast).

    Nicholson had taught Lanyon how to think abstractly in terms of space and form, and how to imbue these with ideas. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, whilst the paintings of St Ives by Nicholson had a certain classical thinness, Lanyon's resonated a rich energy. During this time, he was starting to see the work of the American Abstract Expressionists, including the mature Willem de Kooning at the Venice Biennale of 1950 and later Jackson Pollock's One (No. 31) (1950)(3) when it was shown at the ICA in 1953. Andrew Causey has described how Lanyon was able to reinvent him¬self.(4) His introduction to prominent New York artists (he later met Rothko in 1957) undoubtedly opened new possi¬bilities and freedoms in his work, and led to four solo shows there

    Lanyon took up gliding as a pastime and used the resulting experience extensively in his paintings. He died in Taunton, Somerset, as the result of injuries received in a gliding accident and is buried in St. Uny's Church, Lelant.

    In September 2010 Peter Lanyon's work was honoured with a large-scale retrospective exhibition: Peter Lanyon 9 October 2010 – 23 January 2011 at Tate St Ives. Curated by Chris Stephens, Head of Displays and Curator of Modern British Art at Tate Britain, it was the first thorough museum retrospective for almost forty years. In 2015 Lanyon's Gliding Paintings were shown as a set in the Soaring Flight exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, London.

    In 2018 the catalogue raisonné of Peter's oil paintings and three-dimensional works was published by Modern Art Press, after a decades work by Toby Treves.
    https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/peter-lanyon-1467
    http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/collection/artists/lanyon-peter-1918/object/bojewyan-farms-lanyon-195152-p345
  • Dimensions: 27.2 x 19 cm Frame: 42 x 34 cm
  • Medium: Pastel on paper
  • Condition: Good, slight damage to original frame

Accepted Forms of Payment:

American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Wire Transfer

Shipping

All lots must be paid for and collected by 4pm AEST Monday 8 November. Unfortunately we cannot arrange shipping from this location, however we can arrange the goods to be removed to our rooms at the buyers expense.

15 May 2023 18:00 AEST
Stanmore, Australia

Theodore Bruce Auctioneers & Valuers

You agree to pay a buyer's premium of 25% and any applicable taxes and shipping.

View full terms and conditions

Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
A$0 A$49 A$5
A$50 A$99 A$10
A$100 A$299 A$20
A$300 A$499 A$25
A$500 A$999 A$50
A$1,000 A$1,999 A$100
A$2,000 A$4,999 A$200
A$5,000 A$9,999 A$500
A$10,000 A$19,999 A$1,000
A$20,000 A$49,999 A$2,000
A$50,000 A$99,999 A$5,000
A$100,000 A$199,999 A$10,000
A$200,000 A$499,999 A$20,000
A$500,000 + A$50,000