Peter Lanyon : Mural Studies

28 Nov 2013-18 Jan 2014

Overview

Peter Lanyon was born in 1918. The son of Cornish parents, he was passionately involved with his native landscape. He thought of himself as a true landscape painter in the English tradition and despised being linked with the ‘St Ives School’ – He made paintings, he said, which owed their existence to the place and not ‘New York or the Moon’. Breaking away from the early influences of Gabo and Nicholson, he quickly forged a unique vocabulary born of his interaction with the western Cornish peninsular. He explored it by foot, from the air – through his gliding experiences, by car, and from beneath – climbing down into local mine shafts. His ‘constructions’ were explorations of spatial concepts realised through his experiences and were often studies for translation to the plane of the canvas.