John Banting Wall Decorations

John Banting studied with Meninsky at Westminster School of Art in 1921 and then in Paris. In 1925, Banting was associated with the Bloomsbury Group and in 1927 exhibited with the London Group. Banting also showed at the Werthein, Cooling and Storran Galleries, London. In 1930, Banting met Duchamp, Breton, Giacometti and Cravel in Paris and on his return to Nash noted the influence of surrealism on his work. In 1936, Banting exhibited at the International Surrealist Exhibitions in London and New York and also in Paris in 1938. After the war, Banting was associated with the English Surrealist and the latter part of his life was spent in Hastings. Banting’s early work was influenced by Picasso, Braque and Gris but he quickly evolved his repertoire of forms and subjects, plants, bones, shells and feathers, etc. often constructed into strange figures, etc. Banting experimented widely with techniques and also produced abstracts and more naturalistic works. Banting made blue-prints (1931–32) using an architect’s printer. Banting also did etchings and linocuts in the same period.