Page 42 - Studio International - November 1966

A group of primitives

and naïfs

Bryan Pearce

The Harbour, the coastguard or the bridge over the
railway happen to Bryan Pearce who is a native of
St Ives. All these things have an activity which is
not only seen, there is evidence in every painting of
an awareness which is more direct, the knowing
which a man will have for land or sea or craft. When
this understanding is linked to the kind of play which
is common in child art the combination is called
Folk Art. If a category is necessary Bryan Pearce is
nearest to this.
His art emerges at a time when sophistication is
disintegrating St Ives painting, and a self-conscious
group of artists is mourning the decline of a fictitious
'St Ives School'. Bryan Pearce takes a walk to Carbis
Bay, returning by the cliff path to paint what has
happened with a blue sea and green grass and side
seen houses and around corner looks, that have
been avoided in the quaint and pretty concept of
picture postcard St Ives, and exploited in boutique
primitivism. Because his sources are not seen with a
passive eye, but are truly happenings, his painting
is original.
Theory and speculation usually put distance between
the event and its description, and the painting is
Bryan Pearce subjected to stretching by miles of elastic words, so
St Uny Church, Lelant 1964 that the acts of observing, making and communicating
10 1/8 x 12 7/16 in. Courtesy New Art Centre
are all studied out of context. These paintings may
be subjects for analysis to some people but that
activity is not going to make the paintings more
understandable. It is necessary to accept these works
as the labour of a man who has to communicate this
way because there is no other. It is then possible to
celebrate the facts and not the theory.
Peter Lanyon

Bryan Pearce
From the old pier, St Ives 1965
Oil on board
22 1/2 x 32 1/4 in. Courtesy New
Art Centre