Peter Lanyon 1918-1964
Biography
1918 Born 8 February in St Ives, Cornwall, only son of W H Lanyon, amateur photographer and musician.
Educated at St Erbyn's School, Penzance and Clifton College
1936-37 Studied at the Penzance School of Art
1937 Met Adrian Stokes who probably gave him his first introduction to contemporary painting and sculpture and who advised him to go to the Euston Road School
1938 Studied at Euston Road School for four months under Victor Pasmore
1939 Meet Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Naum Gabo who had moved to St Ives on the outbreak of war and received private art tuition from Ben Nicholson. The character of his work changed completely and he became very involved with making constructions. Throughout the forties the influence of Nicholson and Gabo remained strongly visible in his work
1940-45 Served in the Royal Air Force in the Western Desert, Palestine and Italy
1946 Married Sheila St John Browne
Six children born between 1947 and 1957
1946-47 Active member of the Crypt Group of Artists, St Ives
1948 Travelled around Italy in the summer
1949 Founder member of Penwith Society of Arts in Cornwall
First one-man exhibition at the Lefevre Gallery, London
1950 Began teaching at the Bath Academy of Art, Corsham (until 1957) where William Scott was senior painting master
Invited by Arts Council to contribute to their Festival of Britain exhibition
1953 Spent four months living in Italy on Italian government scholarship
Elected member of the Newlyn Society of Artists
1954 Awarded Critics Prize, by the British section of the International Association of Art Critics
1957-60 Ran art school, St Peter's Loft at St Ives with Terry Frost and William Redgrave
1957 Visited New York for his first one-man show there, with Catherine Viviano Gallery and met Rothko, Motherwell and other artists, critics and collectors
He greatly admired the new American painting he saw both in Tate's exhibition 'Modern Art in the United States' and on his trip to New York. Rothko's work particularly thrilled him. While Lanyon was becoming increasingly conscious of the English landscape tradition American art speeded his development towards a looser and more open kind of painting
1959 Awarded second prize, 2nd John Moores Exhibition, Liverpool
Began gliding, as he explained 'to get a more complete knowledge of the landscape'
1961 Elected Chairman of the Newlyn Society of Artists, Cornwall
Elected Bard of Cornish Gorsedd for services to Cornish art
1962 Spent seven months painting mural commissioned for house of Stanley J Seeger, New Jersey
1963 Spent three months as visiting painter, San Antonio Art Institute, Texas
Visited Mexico
1964 Visited Prague and Bratislava to lecture for the British Council
Died 31 August at Taunton, as a result of injuries received in a gliding accident
One-Man Exhibitions
1949 Lefevre Gallery, London 'Paintings by Leila Caetani and Peter Lanyon',
1951 Downing's Bookshop, St Ives
1952 Gimpel Fils, London
1954 Gimpel Fils, London
1955 City Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth
1957 Catherine Viviano Gallery, New York
1958 Gimpel Fils, London
1959 Catherine Viviano Gallery, New York
1960 Gimpel Fils, London
1961 Sao Paulo Bienale, Brazil
1962 Catherine Viviano Gallery, New York
Sail Loft Gallery, St Ives
Gimpel Fils, London
1963 Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas
Catherine Viviano Gallery, New York
Arts Council Gallery, Cambridge
'Three Contemporary Painters' (with Henry Mundy and Ceri Richards)
and touring:
King's Lynn, Glasgow
Midland Group Gallery, Nottingham
1964 Catherine Viviano Gallery, New York
Gimpel and Hanover Galerie, Zurich
1968 Arts Council, Tate Gallery, London 'Peter Lanyon' and touring:
City Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne
City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1969 Bear Lane Gallery, Oxford
1970 Sheviock Gallery, Torpoint
1970-71 Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol and Park Square Gallery, Leeds
1971 Basil Jacobs Fine Art, London
Exeter University
1975 Gimpel Fils, London
New Art Centre, London
1978 Arts Council, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester 'Peter Lanyon: Paintings, drawings and constructions 1937-1964' and touring:
Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow
KettleÕs Yard, Cambridge
Penwith Society of Arts, St Ives
Royal West of England Academy of Arts, Bristol
1981 City Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke on Trent 'Peter Lanyon: Drawings and Graphic Work' and touring:
Museum of Modern Art, Oxford
City Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth
1983 New Art Centre, London
Newlyn Art Galley, Cornwall
Gimpel Fils, London 'Peter Lanyon: Works 1946-1964'
1984 Posterngate Gallery, Hull 'Peter Lanyon: Drawings and Gouaches 1937-1964'
1984-85 British Council exhibition touring Ireland, Portugal and Spain 'Cornwall: Drawings by Peter Lanyon and Photographs by Andrew Lanyon'
1987 Gimpel Fils, London 'Peter Lanyon: Selected Works 1952-64'
1991 Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London 'Peter Lanyon: Landscapes 1946-1964'
Gillian Jason Gallery, London 'Peter Lanyon: Works on Paper'
Public Collections
Australia Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide Art Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Canada National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Czech Republic Narodni Gallery, Prague
Portugal Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon
United Kingdom Arts Council of Great Britain, London
Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast
British Council, London
Cecil Higgins Museum, Bedford
City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham
City Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth
Contemporary Art Society, London
Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston upon Hull
Friends of Bristol Art Gallery, Dyer Bequest
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
Norfolk Contemporary Art Society
Peter Stuyvesant Foundation, London
Pier Gallery, Orkney
Portsmouth Education Committee
Russell-Cotes Art Gallery, Bournemouth
Tate Gallery, London
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester
USA Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh
Cleveland Museum of Art
Princeton University, Art Museum
Smith College Museum of Art, Massachusetts
Yale University Art Gallery
Peter Lanyon at the Wheel c.1950
Photograph: Tate Gallery Archive
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Peter Lanyon at Geevor Mine c.1950
Photograph: Gilbert Adams
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Peter Lanyon (in his studio, Little Park Owles) 1955
Photograph: Sheila Lanyon
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Lunch at Chapel, Kerris, August 1958
As seated round table clockwise starting bottom
centre:
June Feiler, Helen, Christine (hidden) and Anthony
Feiler, Peter Lanyon, Marie Miles, Mell Rothko,
Mark Rothko and Terry Frost
Photograph: Paul Feiler
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Peter Lanyon
Photograph: Charles Gimpel
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Peter Lanyon
Photograph: Andrew Lanyon
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Peter Lanyon
Photograph: Lord Snowdon
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