Patrick Heron

Waddington Galleries, London
Acquired by the present owner in December 1990
Private Collection

London, Waddington Galleries, Patrick Heron, 24th November - 19th December 1964, cat. no.3;
São Paulo, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, VIII Bienal de São Paulo, Victor Pasmore/Patrick Heron, 4th September - 28th November 1965, cat. no.14, illustrated, with tour to Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago, Instituto de Arte Contemporáneo, Lima and Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas;
Oslo, Kunstnernes Hus, Patrick Heron - Ceri Richards, 21st October - 12th November 1967, cat. no.14.

The following report has been prepared by Stuart Sanderson, Paintings Conservation. This painting was executed on a good quality canvas, with a good overall plane. The stretcher is the original. Some of the paint has rather a dry and uneven appearance, it would seem that the top surface has been affected by atmospheric conditions. I believe this is only superficial, and with the appropriate treatment I would expect this to be resolved and the original colour regained. There are spots of mould evident on the surface, mostly on the violet. There has been a small paint loss in the lower left corner which has been retouched. Under ultra-violet light there are some old retouchings, for example, in the top left and right corner. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The Estate of Patrick Heron is preparing the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the Artist's work and would like to hear from owners of any works by Patrick Heron, so that these can be included in this comprehensive catalogue. Please write to The Estate of Patrick Heron, c/o Modern & Post-War British Art, Sotheby's, 34-35 New Bond Street, London, W1A 2AA, or email at modbrit@sothebys.com.

‘For a very long time now, I have realised that my overriding interest is colour. Colour is both the subject and the means; the form and the content; the images and the meaning…’

(The Artist, ‘A Note on my Painting: 1962’, introduction to the catalogue for his exhibition at Galerie Charles Lienhard, Zurich, January 1963)

The early 1960s saw a sharp change in Patrick Heron’s visual language, as he moved away from the gestural, tachiste approach that heralded his move to full abstraction, towards soft, luminous colour-fields in which lozenges of contrasting colour float against miasmas of endless depth. These works are typified by forms drawing to the edges of the canvas, allowing the central space to become awash with deep colour, creating a visual play of subtle complexity and intensity, uniquely Heron’s own.

Paintings such as Violet Painting With Orange, Lemon and Black: April – May 1964  are symbolic of a new found confidence in British art, inspired as it was by American art but sure, too, of its ambitions. The colours that Heron adopted during the mid-60s certainly reflect an awareness of both Pop and American Hard-Edge Abstraction, both of which – albeit to different ends – used colour in explosive fashion.

From 1963 Heron’s paintings had become more graphic, less soft-edged, as he began to map out his compositions in charcoal beforehand, rather than improvising as he went along. As Heron wrote ‘the interest which had progressively compelled me to sharpen these frontiers was not, at the time… a conscious interest in design or format or form or in any sense in the shapes which my areas assumed; it was simply an obsession with the interaction of colours, on upon another’ (The Artist, ‘Colour in my Paintings: 1969’, Studio International, December 1969, p.204, quoted in Patrick Heron, exh.cat., Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1985, p.11).

This approach produced a new emphasis on colour relationships, seen clearly in the present work. The colours are purer, often applied straight from the tube to the canvas. These new and exciting works were met with great international acclaim, featuring in exhibitions at Bertha Schaefer’s legendary gallery in New York in 1965 and at the São Paulo Biennial of the same year, in which Violet Painting With Orange, Lemon and Black: April – May 1964 was included. The exhibition then toured both South America and Europe, establishing Heron as one of the most important voices in abstraction at the time.