Paul Feiler

The artist's family, and thence by descent to the present owner

Washington D.C., The Obelisk Gallery, 12th January-7th February, 1954.

The Washington Post, 17th January, 1954;
The Washington Times, Herald, 31st January, 1954

The board is in good overall condition. There is an area of craquelure and some paint flaking in the black paint in the lower left quadrant. Otherwise the paint surface is fantastically thick and impressive, and in good overall condition. There is no sign of retouching under ultra-violet light. Held in a simple wooden frame. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 5381 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Paul Feiler visited Cornwall for the first time in 1949 and four years later had decided to settle there permanently. Just as the mountains of Germany had fascinated him as a child, the drama of the Atlantic coastline of West Penwith, its light and landscape made a connection with Feiler that was to have a profound effect on the course of his painting. Like many of his fellow artists associated with St Ives, Feiler's interest was not in views but in creating a response to the experience of the landscape. Inspired by natural forms and drawing on external sources, his work during the early 1950s became increasingly abstract as he developed a means of rendering his environment in pictorial terms within a peculiarly Cornish palette of whites and blues, slate greys and bracken browns. In these early works, we also see Feiler beginning to explore the dichotomous concerns that have become a hallmark of his painting ever since - light against shadow, solids against fluids, geometric against organic forms, soft edges against sharp, the imagined against the real.

Feiler's paintings of the early Cornish period were first exhibited at the Redfern Gallery in 1953, the date of the present work, and were received to great acclaim with every work selling, including one to the Arts Council Collection. The proceeds of this sell-out show allowed Feiler to acquire the disused chapel at Kerris, near Paul, where he still lives with his wife and fellow painter Catharine Armitage.