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Victor Pasmore Towards a New Reality

Victor Pasmore, Abstract in Black, White and Ochre, c.1958, oil, British Council Collection © Estate of Victor Pasmore. All rights reserved, DACS 2017

Victor Pasmore: Towards a New Reality, curated by Anne Goodchild, is currently on show at the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. The exhibition provides a welcome opportunity to reassess the work of this leading British artist.

As you move through the galleries the story of Victor Pasmore’s questioning artistic journey which took him from the figurative to abstraction through a constant experimentalism is told with great assurance. There are works of exceptional beauty from each phase of Pasmore’s oeuvre which never lose touch with the artist’s fundamental desire to depict a new reality of the world he inhabited.

Victor Pasmore, Reclining Nude, c.1942, oil, Tate. Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1951 © Tate, London 2015

Victor Pasmore was largely self-taught attending evening classes at the Central School of Arts whilst working for the London City Council. He was influenced by the work of the Post-Impressionists and quickly became an assured painter of figures, landscapes and still-life studies. His friendship with the artists William Coldstream and Claude Rogers led to his joining the London Artist’s Association and the London Group in 1934. In 1937 Pasmore, together with Coldstream and Rogers, founded the Euston Road School. The school centred on observation and life drawing. Victor Pasmore would describe his time working at the Euston School as a period as much about learning as teaching. Kenneth Clarke’s patronage enabled Pasmore to devote all his time to his art and teaching. The subtle nude from 1942 is a fine example of Pasmore’s assured interpretation of the Post-Impressionist style. There is delicacy and restraint in his handling of light and paint in the depiction of the girl reclining on a bed. The Euston School closed as the Second World War broke upon Europe.

Moving towards abstraction Pasmore would later describe the effect Paul Klee’s cubist painting, Castle in the Sun, had on him: ‘At an exhibition in London I discovered a painting by Paul Klee made up only of coloured squares. I decided straight away that this was the objective point from which I could start again.’

Victor Pasmore, Triangular Motif, c.1949, oil and collage, Ferens Art Gallery: Hull Museums © Estate of Victor Pasmore. All rights reserved, DACS 2017

Pasmore’s collages were made in preparation for paintings. Triangular Motif from 1949 is a collage employing oil paint and paper. The triangles work in concert with the circles. This constructed approach creates movement through the intersections in the layered composition.

Victor Pasmore’s abstracts would show a concern for spatial exploration with directed movement which were linked in the artist’s imagination to journeys through landscapes and built environments. His painting ‘Abstract in Black, White and Ochre, painted in 1948, displays these themes and the influence of Paul Klee. The roughly painted lines once again lends movement to the composition which combines enclosed and open spaces, curves and spots to draw the viewer’s attention.

Victor Passmore: Towards a New Reality runs at The Pallant House Gallery, Chichester until the 11th June 2017. This visually beautiful exhibition is a must. Pallant House Gallery are providing a fine start to the artistic year in Sussex with their spring exhibitions and you should include a visit as one of your Easter treats.

For more information on current exhibitions, events and opening times go to www.pallant.org.uk or telephone 01243 774557.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.

Leading Women Artists Celebrated at Chichester University

Curator, Dr Gill Clarke, admires Florestan by Gillian Ayres (b.1930)

The latest University of Chichester Bishop Otter Collection exhibition ‘Women Artists: Power and Presence’ has been attracting much critical acclaim. The show has been curated by visiting Professor, Dr Gill Clarke. Its provocative title seeks to highlight the revolution and empowerment of women artists in the 20th century and includes work by many of the leading female artists of the period.

Dr Clarke says “Many of the artists represented in this exhibition fought to be recognised because of their work rather than their gender.”

This visually diverse and exciting exhibition brings together some forty works from the last one hundred years. As you enter the gallery your eye is met by a series of intimate studies of women from the early 20th century in watercolour, pencil, oil and print which include works by Gwen John, Vanessa Bell, Sylvia Gosse and others.

Martina Thomas (1924-95), Self-portrait, oil, c.1948, © the artist’s family

Amongst these is a revealing self-portrait dating from 1948 by Martina Thomas. Its inclusion provides a fitting opportunity to reassess this Sussex artist’s work. The portrait shows the influence of the Post-Impressionists in its brush work and execution. She studied at St Martin’s School of Art in London and exhibited at the Royal Academy during the 1950s. However, like Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, her representational style fell from favour as Modern British Art increasingly moved towards abstraction.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912-2004), Jupiter’s Dream, oil, c.1998, © The Barns-Graham Charitable Trust

This movement towards abstraction is reflected in two large scale works filled with vitality, colour and life by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and Gillian Ayres. They have been generously loaned by The Barns-Graham Charitable Trust and The Swindon Museum and Art Gallery marking the beginning of an exciting relationship between these collections and the Bishop Otter Collection.

I must confess that I find Wilhelmina Barns-Graham’s ‘Jupiter’s Dream’ captivating. It is a painting filled with light and energy as the artist brings together a lifetime of experience. She arrived in St Ives in 1940 and painted there and at Balmungo, near St Andrews, throughout her life. Barns-Graham was one of only a few women artists painting in an exploratory manner in the 1940s and she moved steadily towards abstraction. This late work is extraordinary in its use of composition, colour and mass to create movement and drama. The three dramatic bands and geometric forms draw the viewer into its celestial drama and heighten our senses.

I express my delight in Gillian Ayres’ painting Florestan. Gill Clarke responds “Gillian Ayres wanted her paintings to be alive and give delight. The thick texture of the paint with its bright colours make this a joyful and expressive picture.” I comment on the paintings musical quality and sense of rhythm and Dr Clarke explains that its title might relate to Gillian Ayres’ love of Beethoven and his opera Fidelio.

There are many other paintings to delight you by leading artists from the 20th century and all of them by women. The continuing prominence of women in art is celebrated by a number of contemporary works.

Dr Gill Clarke’s continuing work at the Bishop Otter Collection is bringing new life to this important collection in the context of the life and campus of the University of Chichester. She is deserving of our thanks.

If you have yet to see this beautiful and thought provoking exhibition you still have time. It runs until the 9th April 2017 and entry is free. For more information and opening times go to www.chi.ac.uk/about-us/otter-gallery.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.

The Grand Tour and Neo-classicism

An etching after Giovanni Battista Piranesi titled 'Veduta dell' Interno dell' Ansiteatro Flavio detto il Colosseo' — An etching after Giovanni Battista Piranesi titled ‘Veduta dell’ Interno dell’ Ansiteatro Flavio detto il Colosseo’

The gap year and an opportunity to travel seems, to many of us, a relatively new phenomenon – a chance for our children to broaden their experience of the world. But there is nothing new in this. Georgian polite society would send their sons to the Continent once they had completed their formal education.

The Grand Tour could last anything up to five years. Young men and their tutors would visit the great houses, palaces and cities of Europe. There they would admire the ruins of antiquity and bring back trophies of their tour – objects which were both genuine and imitations. Examples of these pursuits can be found in the collections at Petworth House in West Sussex where the 2nd Earl of Egremont (1710-1763) was a particularly cultured Grand Tourist.

The late Georgian period (1760-1800) would be defined by Neo- classical taste informed by the newly discovered rich Roman interiors at Herculaneum (from 1748) and Pompeii (from 1758). These cities had been hidden from the world by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. 18th century excavations revealed exquisite interiors with delicate symmetrical decorative motifs which inspired artists and designers back home in Britain.

A Gillows of Lancaster Neo-classical specimen marble centre-table

The Neo-classical specimen marble table illustrated is a good example of this and was probably designed by Gillows of Lancaster. By the mid-18th century Gillows had acquired a reputation for manufacturing furniture of the highest quality and by the late 1700s the firm had offices in Lancaster and London. There are records of Gillows supplying tables to Stephen Tempest to support marble slabs purchased by him in Italy. However, this particular table was most recently owned by the late Baroness Herries of Terregles (1938-2014). Lady Anne’s father was the 16th Duke of Norfolk and she had grown up at Arundel Castle, the Norfolk’s family seat in West Sussex. The circular top is inset with radiating bands of specimen marbles, including lapis lazuli, malachite, porphyry and agates, within a border of verde-antico The table’s base is delicately carved with a continuous band of acanthus leaves, raised on a carved tulip cusp stem with a beaded knop, the triform base has carved scroll feet fitted with castors.

The Grand Tour specimen marble table top

The scene depicted by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) is typical of his ‘Vedutes’ (views), especially of Rome, which once again became an important artistic and cultural centre in the 18th century. Piranesi was an Italian artist famous for his etchings which would inspire a generation of philosophers, architects, artists and academics.

These objects speak loudly of our shared European heritage. I am confident and hopeful that the continuous philosophical and cultural heritage, which forms part of our shared narrative with the nations of Continental Europe, will continue to bless us as our relationships with one another evolve.

Learning and culture were considered and remain important markers of civilisation in Europe.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.

‘The Woodcut: From Dürer to Now’ at Pallant House

Albrecht Dürer, ‘Repose on the Flight into Egypt’, c.1504, (Hussey Bequest, Chichester District Council, 1985), © Pallant House Gallery

An intimate exhibition ‘The Woodcut: from Dürer to Now’ has just opened at the Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. It examines the art of the woodcuts and wood engravings from the time of the Renaissance to today.

To produce a woodblock print the artist’s design would be pasted to the block so that the engraver could cut the image into the wood. The printer would then print the image.

The first woodcut in the exhibition is an image by the Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528). Produced in 1511, it comes from a series of prints he made illustrating scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary. Dürer’s treatment of the scene is revolutionary. The infant Jesus sleeps whilst Mary spins yarn in the company of Joseph and two attendant Angels. The group are watched over by the Holy Spirit depicted as a dove in the heavens. There is a gentle domesticity to the scene in contrast to the urgency of their flight from Herod. Note also Dürer’s treatment of perspective in the buildings and landscape.

Straight grained cherry was often used in the production of Japanese woodcuts as it allowed for fine detail to be carved. As many as ten blocks were used to achieve the diversity of colour. At each stage of the process proofs would be made for approval.

Utagawa Hiroshige, ‘Travellers surprised by sudden rain (Shono haku-u)’, c.1833 - 4, Woodcut on paper, (Hussey Bequest, Chichester District Council, 1985), © Pallant House Gallery — Utagawa Hiroshige, ‘Travellers surprised by sudden rain (Shono haku-u)’, c.1833 – 4, Woodcut on paper, (Hussey Bequest, Chichester District Council, 1985), © Pallant House Gallery

One of the best known of all Japanese woodcut designers is Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858). Hiroshige’s landscape prints are internationally acclaimed and are amongst the most frequently reproduced of all Japanese works of art. They are defined by their unusual compositions and humorous depictions of people involved in everyday activities. His exquisite observation and depiction of weather, light and season are exemplary. Hiroshige’s work proved hugely influential for many leading European artists including Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh.

Hiroshige combined his print making with his inherited position as a fire warden. In 1832 he was invited to join an embassy of Shogunal officials on a journey which allowed him to observe the Tokaido Road, the Eastern sea Route which followed the coast through mountain range to Kyoto. The resultant series was called ‘Tokaido Go-ju-san-Tsugi’ (The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido), from which ‘Travellers surprised by sudden rain (Shono haku-u)’ is taken. It portrays farmers and porters running for shelter as the sudden downpour of rain darkens the sky and obscures the mountains. The figures, angle of the rain and the wind in the trees, lends the image a sense of urgency and movement.

In the early part of the 20th Century there was a revival of woodblock engraving in Britain. The strength of contrast in the black and white, and the softness of line, seemed to articulate something particular to a generation who had lived through the First World War.

Ben Nicholson, ‘5 Circles’, c.1934, woodcut on paper, (Private collection)

Ben Nicholson (1894-1982) was a leading artist in British Modernism. ‘5 Circles’ was the only woodcut he made before the Second World War. It was commissioned by Anatole Jakovski in 1934. Proof copies of this abstract print are known to exist and Nicholson must have preserved his block as a further reprint was produced by Kestner Gesellschaft in 1962.

Entrance to this intimate exhibition is free thanks to the generosity of its sponsor, De’Longhi. The show runs until 25th June 2017 at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. Further details of this and the gallery’s other current exhibitions (which are really worth the ticket price) can be found at www.pallant.org.uk.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.

£132,000 Chinese Discovery in West Sussex

The pair of Chinese imperial famille rose enamelled porcelain rectangular tea caddies

A pair of Chinese famille rose enamelled porcelain tea caddies dating from the Qing dynasty have just sold at Toovey’s Fine Art Auctioneers for £132,000. They were being displayed on a window sill in a Sussex home when they caught the eye of a Toovey’s valuer during a routine visit. The result illustrates the strength of Chinese Hong Kong collectors and the benefits of the post-Brexit pound which have caused prices and competition from abroad to soar.

Today’s Chinese collectors are following in the tradition of the Qianlong emperor (1711-1799) who was the last of the great imperial art collectors and patrons in Chinese history. His genuine passion for art and collecting seems to have been inspired by his grandfather, the Kangxi emperor (1654-1722), and his uncle Yinxi (1711-1758).

The Qianlong emperor was prolific in his collecting applying an exceptional personal connoisseurship not only to the acquisition of art and antiquities but also to his patronage. His collection would number more than a million objects. It included the collection of the Ming emperors (1368-1644) which was the oldest art collection in the world with a continuous collecting tradition dating back over 1600 years.

The Qianlong emperor took a personal interest in porcelain production and was an ardent collector of it. Many of the types of porcelain associated with the Qianlong emperor, however, were seeded under the Emperor Yongzheng’s supervisor of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, Tang Ying (1682-1756).

Toovey’s Asian Art Specialist, Tom Rowsell, with the £132,000 pair of Qianlong period tea caddies

Toovey’s Asian art specialist, Tom Rowsell, explains “The mid-18th century porcelain designers had an unprecedented freedom due to their technical understanding of glazes. This resulted in enamelled wares often decorated with dense, complex and colourful designs as you can see on the side panels of this remarkable pair of Qianlong period tea caddies from the imperial kilns. Their shape and proportion is typically well judged and shows the influence of European taste, the superb fine white bodies and beautifully ordered and executed decoration are quintessentially of the period.”

The densely decorated sides of the Chinese famille rose tea caddies, typical of the Qianlong period (1735-1796)

I comment on the virtuosity in the contrast between the restrained depiction of the blossoming branches and flowering stems which enfold the finely executed text, and the polychrome enamelled sides densely filled with lotus flowers and scrolling tendrils on the yellow and iron red grounds. Tom agrees and says “This technical excellence and style is explained by the production processes refined by Tang Ying at Jingdezhen. Tang Ting was the foremost ceramic expert in China. He was summoned to Beijing in 1743 to illustrate and catalogue the imperial collection and described the process of porcelain manufacture in twenty steps. This led to an elaborate division of labour at the imperial kilns so that no one person was responsible for the production of a single piece at Jingdezhen.”

Today’s Chinese collectors are as passionate in their collecting as their imperial forebears and the market shows no signs of abating. If you would like advice on your Chinese objects Tom Rowsell can be contacted on 01903 891955 or by emailing auctions@tooveys.com.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.