- 14
Peter Lanyon
Estimate
70,000 - 100,000 GBP
bidding is closed
Description
- Peter Lanyon
- CARTHEW
- signed, titled, dated 1950 and inscribed with the Artist's address on the reverse
- oil on board
- 51 by 84cm.; 20 by 33in.
Provenance
Gimpel Fils, London, where acquired by Miss J. May, 12th February 1953
Waddington Galleries, London
Sale, Sotheby's London, 7th November 1990, lot 175
Bernard Jacobson, London, where acquired by the present owner
Waddington Galleries, London
Sale, Sotheby's London, 7th November 1990, lot 175
Bernard Jacobson, London, where acquired by the present owner
Exhibited
London, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London to Paris, March - April 1950, cat. no.54;
St. Ives, Downing's Bookshop, Paintings from Penwith, 1951, (details untraced);
New York, Riverside Museum, British Council, Danish, British and American Abstract Artists, 1951, (details untraced);
Paris, Galerie de France, British Council, Tendences de la painture et de la sculpture Britannique, October 1951, cat. no.4;
St Ives, Tate Gallery, Peter Lanyon, 9th October 2010 - 23rd January 2011, unnumbered, illustrated p.42, where lent by the present owner.
St. Ives, Downing's Bookshop, Paintings from Penwith, 1951, (details untraced);
New York, Riverside Museum, British Council, Danish, British and American Abstract Artists, 1951, (details untraced);
Paris, Galerie de France, British Council, Tendences de la painture et de la sculpture Britannique, October 1951, cat. no.4;
St Ives, Tate Gallery, Peter Lanyon, 9th October 2010 - 23rd January 2011, unnumbered, illustrated p.42, where lent by the present owner.
Literature
The Listener, August 9th 1951;
Andrew Causey, Peter Lanyon, Aidan Ellis Publishing, Henley-on-Thames 1971, cat. no.31;
Andrew Lanyon, Peter Lanyon 1918-1964, Andrew Lanyon, Newlyn 1990, pp.110 & 118, illustrated p.110;
Chris Stephens, Peter Lanyon: At the Edge of Landscape, 21 Publishing, London 2000, pp.65-68, pl.37.
Andrew Causey, Peter Lanyon, Aidan Ellis Publishing, Henley-on-Thames 1971, cat. no.31;
Andrew Lanyon, Peter Lanyon 1918-1964, Andrew Lanyon, Newlyn 1990, pp.110 & 118, illustrated p.110;
Chris Stephens, Peter Lanyon: At the Edge of Landscape, 21 Publishing, London 2000, pp.65-68, pl.37.
Condition
The board is sound and the work appears in excellent overall condition.
Under ultraviolet light there appear to be no signs of retouching.
Held under glass in a simple wood frame.
Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 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."
"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."
Catalogue Note
'Carthew is not an abstract painting. This is terribly important, not privately but publicly. I do not paint in the Abstract Sense…There is a very big gulf between what I am doing and what we know as abstract…Enough, but you see what I shall feel when Carthew once more joins the abstract fraternity? It did so in New York and I wrote ‘Landscape’ all over the British Council pink form!' (Peter Lanyon letter to Peter Gimpel, August 1951, reproduced in Andrew Lanyon, Peter Lanyon 1918-1964, Newlyn, 1990, p.110 )
Just along the road south of the village of Carthew is the Wheal Martyn pit. Tapping into one of the largest deposits of china clay in the world, the site has been mined for over two centuries. It is estimated that over 120,000,000 tonnes of clay have been removed over the years, and the resulting effect on the landscape is clear even today. Like many other parts of Cornwall, the history of man’s connection with his landscape is a harsh one.
Carthew belongs, with West Penwith and Portreath (both Private Collection), to a small body of paintings from the 1949-50 period when Lanyon was developing a very distinctive style, manipulating the paint surface to create a powerful allusion to landscape without resorting to specific reference. The palette of Carthew, full of misty greys and blues and rich lichen greens, is drawn thinly over the board support, then rubbed and scraped back in sweeping curves. The greys echo the exposed clay workings of the mines, man’s attacks into the land’s surface, shaping whilst desecrating. Lanyon’s paintings of this period do involve readings of elements of the human figure within them, and thus the suggestion of human torment identifiable with the sufferings of the land seem consistent with a theme in his work that would lead to him identifying his great 1953 painting, St.Just (Tate Collection), with the horrors of the crucifixion.
We are grateful to Toby Treves for his kind assistance in cataloguing the present work. This painting will be included in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Peter Lanyon's paintings and constructions, to be published by Modern Art Press.
Just along the road south of the village of Carthew is the Wheal Martyn pit. Tapping into one of the largest deposits of china clay in the world, the site has been mined for over two centuries. It is estimated that over 120,000,000 tonnes of clay have been removed over the years, and the resulting effect on the landscape is clear even today. Like many other parts of Cornwall, the history of man’s connection with his landscape is a harsh one.
Carthew belongs, with West Penwith and Portreath (both Private Collection), to a small body of paintings from the 1949-50 period when Lanyon was developing a very distinctive style, manipulating the paint surface to create a powerful allusion to landscape without resorting to specific reference. The palette of Carthew, full of misty greys and blues and rich lichen greens, is drawn thinly over the board support, then rubbed and scraped back in sweeping curves. The greys echo the exposed clay workings of the mines, man’s attacks into the land’s surface, shaping whilst desecrating. Lanyon’s paintings of this period do involve readings of elements of the human figure within them, and thus the suggestion of human torment identifiable with the sufferings of the land seem consistent with a theme in his work that would lead to him identifying his great 1953 painting, St.Just (Tate Collection), with the horrors of the crucifixion.
We are grateful to Toby Treves for his kind assistance in cataloguing the present work. This painting will be included in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Peter Lanyon's paintings and constructions, to be published by Modern Art Press.