Laurence Scarfe

Mosaic, 1960 - 20th C Abstracted Still Life Oil Painting, Yellow, Green + Red

1960

Gordon House was born in 1932 in Pontardawe, South Wales. Early exposure to art on trips to the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery as a young boy inspired House towards creative endeavors and at the age of fourteen he was awarded a grant to enter art school which he accepted. From 1947 to 1950 he studied at Luton School of Art, Bedfordshire, and St. Albans School of Art, Hertfordshire. House's contemporaries included Richard Smith and John Plumb with whom he remained close. During the early fifties, after finishing art school, House began work as assistant to the ecclesiastical sculptor Theodore Kern. He also spent time at an advertising studio where he honed his burgeoning skills in typography and graphic design. In 1952 House was offered the position of designer for Imperial Chemical Industries Plastics Division where he stayed until 1959. This was followed by two years spent as graphic designer for the Kynoch Press in London. In 1961 House set out on his own as a self-employed designer and typographer. Initially this was supplemented by part-time teaching at art schools in and around London but by 1964 House was able to devote himself entirely to his design work which freed up valuable time to concentrate on his own artistic output in the studio. In the late fifties, informed by the new art emerging from America and that of his contemporaries in England, House began to create large-scale abstract works which he was invited to show in 1959 at Dennis Bowen's legendary New Vision Centre in Marble Arch. House was an active participant in the vibrant London art scene of the sixties, regularly attending lectures, exhibitions and discussions. In 1960 he exhibited in 'Situation' the key abstract exhibition of the decade held at the RBA Galleries. Other participating artists included Robyn Denny, Bernard and Harold Cohen, Gillian Ayres, John Hoyland, Richard Smith and William Turnbull among others. These artists, united by a common admiration for American Abstract Expressionism, were frustrated by the lack of exposure given to large-scale abstract works in commercial galleries so they organised their own exhibition. The name was derived from the participants' idea that an abstract painting that occupied the whole field of vision would involve the spectator in an 'event' or 'situation'. This exhibition was followed by 'New London Situation' in 1961 and a nationwide touring Arts Council presentation in recognition of the significance of the two earlier shows. In 1961 House began producing his first prints at the Kelpra Studio, run by Chris and Rose Prater, where he made the earliest fine art screenprint ever to be produced in Britain. Artists such as Paolozzi and Hamilton followed in his footsteps and together they started a printmaking revolution in Britain. They cemented the medium of the screenprint in the world of fine art as opposed to the commercial sphere and secured the reputation of Kelpra in the process. Later, together with Cliff White, House set up the White Ink (Ltd.) print studio in London, where he produced etchings and wood engravings on a series of magnificent antique printing presses...

Nicholas Turner b. 1972 Red Table and Light House, 2022-2024 oil on canvas 61 x 61 cm 24 x 24 in signed, dated and titled verso Born in London, Turner spent many years in Bristol b...

Still Life on a Table, Gouache Painting by Peter Potworowski, 1954 Additional information: Medium: Gouache 23.6 x 33.3 cm 9 1/4 x 13 1/8 in Tadeusz Piotr (Peter) Potworowski was a Polish abstract and figurative painter who lived and exhibited in Paris, Poland, Sweden and England. Potworowski was born in Warsaw in 1898. After serving in the First World War, Potworowski enrolled at the Warsaw University of Technology to study architecture, though his studies were halted by the Bolshevik campaign. After the end of the Polish-Soviet War in 1921, Potworowski returned to Warsaw and began to study art at the school of Konrad Krzyżanowski. By the following year, he had taken a place at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, where he studied under Józef Pankiewicz. It was Pankiewicz who incorporated Potworowski into the Paris Commute, or Kapists, a group of Polish artists who travelled to the French capital in 1924. During his seven years in Paris he became personally acquainted with Pablo Picasso, Pierre Bonnard, Jean Cocteau, Constantin Brancusi and attended for a short time Fernand Léger's studio. It was through this job that he met his first wife Magdalena Mańkowska, a student of anthropology in Paris. After marrying in France, and visiting Britain in 1928, the couple returned to Poland in 1930, where their first son John was born. In 1931, Warsaw was the locale of the first Kapists exhibition, entitled New Generation, which took place at the Artist's Club, Hotel Polonia, and the Institute of Art Propaganda. Here, Potworowski received a prize for his painting Three Women in the Interior. The following year, he held his first solo exhibition at the Makowski Salon in Poznań. This success was sustained through 1937 when the artist received a silver medal at the International Exhibition of Art and Technology in Paris, as well as the award from the Minister of Foreign Affairs. After this strong development, Potworowski had a travelling solo exhibition arranged, held in 1938 at the Institute of Propaganda of Art in Warsaw and then in Lviv. Following the invasion of Poland in 1939, Potworowski escaped to Sweden via Lithuania. It was from here that the artist, with his wife and two young children, made his way to Britain, arriving in 1943. After serving in Scotland, Potworowski settled in London, and in January 1946, an exhibition of 33 of his works was held at the Redfern Gallery. This was followed by regular exhibitions with the Redfern, Gimpel Fils (1948 onwards) and The London Group, to which he was elected a member in 1949. He was also the president of the Association of Polish Artists and published regularly in the monthly magazine "Nowa Polska". Potworowski's teaching career included eight years as Professor of Painting at the Bath Academy of Art, Corsham (1949-57), where he had considerable European influence, specifically on abstraction, and was acknowledged by contemporaries including Peter Lanyon, Bryan Wynter...

Still Life, Red & Yellow Flowers, Gouache Painting by Peter Potworowski, c 1955 Additional information: Medium: Gouache 23.6 x 33.3 cm 9 1/4 x 13 1/8 in Tadeusz Piotr (Peter) Potworowski was a Polish abstract and figurative painter who lived and exhibited in Paris, Poland, Sweden and England. Potworowski was born in Warsaw in 1898. After serving in the First World War, Potworowski enrolled at the Warsaw University of Technology to study architecture, though his studies were halted by the Bolshevik campaign. After the end of the Polish-Soviet War in 1921, Potworowski returned to Warsaw and began to study art at the school of Konrad Krzyżanowski. By the following year, he had taken a place at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, where he studied under Józef Pankiewicz. It was Pankiewicz who incorporated Potworowski into the Paris Commute, or Kapists, a group of Polish artists who travelled to the French capital in 1924. During his seven years in Paris he became personally acquainted with Pablo Picasso, Pierre Bonnard, Jean Cocteau, Constantin Brancusi and attended for a short time Fernand Léger's studio. It was through this job that he met his first wife Magdalena Mańkowska, a student of anthropology in Paris. After marrying in France, and visiting Britain in 1928, the couple returned to Poland in 1930, where their first son John was born. In 1931, Warsaw was the locale of the first Kapists exhibition, entitled New Generation, which took place at the Artist's Club, Hotel Polonia, and the Institute of Art Propaganda. Here, Potworowski received a prize for his painting Three Women in the Interior. The following year, he held his first solo exhibition at the Makowski Salon in Poznań. This success was sustained through 1937 when the artist received a silver medal at the International Exhibition of Art and Technology in Paris, as well as the award from the Minister of Foreign Affairs. After this strong development, Potworowski had a travelling solo exhibition arranged, held in 1938 at the Institute of Propaganda of Art in Warsaw and then in Lviv. Following the invasion of Poland in 1939, Potworowski escaped to Sweden via Lithuania. It was from here that the artist, with his wife and two young children, made his way to Britain, arriving in 1943. After serving in Scotland, Potworowski settled in London, and in January 1946, an exhibition of 33 of his works was held at the Redfern Gallery. This was followed by regular exhibitions with the Redfern, Gimpel Fils (1948 onwards) and The London Group, to which he was elected a member in 1949. He was also the president of the Association of Polish Artists and published regularly in the monthly magazine "Nowa Polska". Potworowski's teaching career included eight years as Professor of Painting at the Bath Academy of Art, Corsham (1949-57), where he had considerable European influence, specifically on abstraction, and was acknowledged by contemporaries including Peter Lanyon, Bryan Wynter...

This superb British 1950's abstract oil on board painting is by noted Slade School trained contemporary artist Leo Davy. Davy was born in Yorkshire but settled in Cornwall in 1968 an...

Roy Bizley (British, 1930-1999) Autumnal forms Oil on board 24.3/4 x 19.3/4 in. (63 x 50 cm.) Provenance: From the artist’s studio

Yellow Composition is a contemporary artwork realized by Leo Guida in 1970s. Mixed colored oil on canvas Leo Guida (1992 - 2017). S ensitive to current issues, artistic movements ...

Stunning modern / Postmodern painterly abstraction with gorgeous knife work and thick impasto, vibrant, genius colors and juxtapositions. Fresh, unexpected yet very much reminiscent of the traditional landscape painting.