William Crozier, H.R.H.A.

Los Angeles, Los Angeles Art Fair, December 1987.

Original canvas. There is a spot of staining to the centre of the sky but otherwise the work is in excellent overall condition. Held in a simple painted wood frame. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 5575 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
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'Landscape was a vehicle through which I could say anything. I could do it in any amount of colours, turn it upside down, make it have moods, make it carry a different meaning...'
(William Crozier in conversation with Brian McAvera, 'Constructions in Colour and Light', Irish Arts Review, Vol. 20, no.1, p.66).

Painted in 1987, the present work was inspired by the megaliths that are found throughout West Cork and was executed shortly after the artist established a home and studio near Skibbereen.  Crozier became absorbed in the history and archaeology of  West Cork, just as he was engaged by its contemporary life. He read widely on the history of the area and used the archaeological inventories of West Cork published by University College, Cork, to search out the best surviving examples in the area around his home bounded by the Mizen,  Bantry and Skibbereen and made many drawings and waterclours of standing stones. This is the only large-scale work in oils of the subject.

Tony Godfrey, writing about the artist's West Cork paintings of the 1980s, observed 'his intent has been not to present passive views of the landscape but to participate, even to possess and be possessed. His landscapes are never just received, they are always negotiated and argued with; the strangeness of the landscape must be accepted, not normalised... for him sensual and intellectual experience cannot be separated (Tony Godfrey, William Crozier. The End of the Modern World, exh.cat., Edinburgh Festival Exhibition at the Scottish Gallery, August – September 1989).