Peter Lanyon explored every aspect of the landscape of his native Cornwall, including from the air in a glider and by tunnelling within mineshafts underground. His experiences contributed to the intensity of his work, which while seemingly abstract was always rooted in the dramatic coastline he passionately loved.
Born in 1918, Lanyon grew up in St Ives, and within the group who gave the town a symbolic place within 20th-century art, including Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Terry Frost and Patrick Heron – only Lanyon was Cornish by birth.
He considered himself a true landscape painter in the English rather than the St Ives School tradition of artists. Breaking away from early influences of Naum Gabo and Nicholson, Lanyon chose to make a more direct reference to his native Penwith peninsula in his work than the St Ives group.
In 1959 he began gliding and a new flowing style on an increased scale emerged. This exhibition focuses on mural commissions, and between 1959 and 1963 he completed three major murals for Liverpool University, Birmingham University and for American collector Stanley J Seeger’s house at Frenchtown, New Jersey.
The exhibition will include the final large scale gouache sketches for murals, in addition to other studies dating from 1951 to 1964, the year of his tragically premature death when he was fatally injured in a gliding accident.
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