Page 46 - Studio International - August 1965

The Icarus of Cornwall Peter Lanyon In Memoriam

by J. P. Hodin
Among the middle generation of English painters Peter artist of Peter Lanyon·s temperament and ethos was
Lanyon-who would have fitted in here had he lived in different. His was not the calculated and easy detached
1965. his 47th year-was one of the most remarkable. way. His was a mind as restless as it was penetrating,
Not because his painting was frequently spoken of or with its ultimate aim of reaching into the core. into the
because he confronted his generation with an accom­ essence of Being itself. Being manifested in its manifold
plished 'gimmick' in a formalistic sense. pleasing on the shapes and hieroglyphics, with its objective meaning
one hand that predilection for ·aestheticism· which is concealed from human knowledge. beautiful or repul­
still strong among the English and. on the other hand. sive but always mysterious. The only way to render this
that craving for a personal accomplishment. 'the other significance of things. this inner face hidden
manner'. which most young English artists aim at behind the visible face. the conjunction in fact of the
achieving very early in their development and which one tangible quality and its inward image, the static Being
might call the trademark of their production. Being quite and its ever-changing functional aspects. the extension
detached from their own work as many of them are. and in time (historically seen) and beyond space. was for
displaying at the same time good taste and a certain Lanyon. his identification with the subject to be painted.
dexterity, they are able to produce results which are his oneness with it-a process known to us from the
often surprising and seem satisfactory from every point experience of the mystics. from the spiritual attitude of
of view. But alas. they are only reflections and variations Far Eastern religions or of the primitive mind as
of the truly creative efforts by original artists elsewhere. expressed in magic art. Peter denied the supremacy of
Their mannerist quality soon comes to the fore and thus intellect in painting. For him the subject with which he
they lose the spell which they had at the beginning. A identified himself since childhood. was his native Corn­
new 'novelty· has to be elaborated. This is where an wall and more particularly the North Coast of West
Penwith. a landscape with rugged stony shores. with­
standing. as it were. since the beginning of creation.
PHOTO: A.NOREW LANYON
the violent onslaught of three seas. its age-old history
reaching beyond prehistoric times into myth and saga.
This Cornish theme was constant in his work. It
already dominated his landscape sketches from
1936-38 as did his consideration of 'abstract' principles.
The concern for abstraction was to him not an end in
itself. It was a means of achieving what since 1950
might be called his style or the landmark in his painting
-Imaginary Expressionism. It was not abstract Expres­
sionism. because abstraction did not dominate his work;
it was not realistic Expressionism. because it aimed at
the significant. the generally valid not the ephemeral
detail. and it was not symbolic Expressionism. because
it did not replace reality by symbols but by a human
reality which was the outcome of a creative struggle
between the so-called objective reality and the sensitive
perception and comprehension of an artistic tempera­
ment. To Lanyon his sensations were concrete and real
and as true as the granite of the Cornish rocks. He liked
to see himself as a landscape painter differing little
from a Wilson or a Constable. To find his style he
embarked between 1939 and 1942 on abstract­
constructivist experiments. In 1939 and 1940 he came
under the influence of Ben Nicholson. This influence
ebbed away but was revived in 1949 until in 1950 it
was finally discarded. Having always been a strongly
emotional type. he could learn from Ben Nicholson but
could not accept his style. A more lasting impact had
been his personal contact with Naum Gabo and also
with Adrian Stokes between 1940 and 1946. The con­
structivist influence was more important for his method
of developing imagery than for actual constructions in
space. The war years signified a change in the direction
of a less detached concern. Only between 1946 and
1949 did Lanyon return, this time fully equipped and
mature. to the Penwith theme. The years 1950 to 1957
were characterised by a further vitalisation of this theme.
a ·sexualization·. one might even say-in that he
experienced the landscape as a nude. identifying the
human body with his native country. He worked some­
times with models. He enriched his experiences of
forms and colours by diving among the rocks of the
Cornish beaches. These underwater sensations he com­
plemented with those from above. Since 1959 he had
been a member of a gliding club and his later work was
76