Paul Feiler

Acquired directly from the Artist by his close friend, Professor John Steer, and thence re-acquired by the Artist
Acquired directly from the Artist by the present owner

Unexamined out of the frame, the canvas appears original and sound. There are fine lines of craquelure to the white plains. The surface has been worked in keeping with the nature of the Artist's techniques, but there may be a few instances of minor loss to isolated areas, visible upon very close inspection. There some areas of further reticulation visible in the lower right corner. Subject to the above the work is in very good overall condition. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals scattered areas of fluorescence to the white pigment. These may be retouchings, but a few may relate to the Artist use of pigment and technique. The work is float mounted within a white painted wood frame under glass. Please telephone the department on +44 207 293 6424 if you have any questions.
"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."

West Cornwall’s dramatic Atlantic coastline and exceptional quality of light has drawn painters to St Ives since the beginning of the nineteenth century. Feiler first visited the area in 1949 and was deeply moved by its beauty. He settled permanently in Cornwall in the early 1950s and the landscape became central to his art.  As with Peter Lanyon, Barbara Hepworth and several other artists of the St Ives School, Feiler did not try to capture a literal representation of the view but instead was interested in creating a response to the experience of landscape. His painting became increasingly abstract throughout the decade as he developed a means of rendering his environment in pictorial terms. Yet his palette remained extremely evocative of place. Whites conjure sea spray and cloud, blues are sea and sky and grey-browns are wet pebbles and craggy rocks.

The vibrant abstraction Feiler developed during the 1950s evolved in the next decade to focus less directly on the forms and experiences of the surrounding landscape. By the early 1960s, he had distilled the fluidly gestural handling of works such as Large Welsh Bay (1952, Arts Council Collection, London) into the architectonic shapes and interlocking forms of the present work.  Inspired by the shapes and structures of his own studio furniture; the easels, stretchers and searchlight mirrors (see fig.1), his style takes on a more mathematical and geometric focus and is reminiscent of Frantisek Kupka's dynamic visual language, developed during the early decades of the 20th Century. In addition, the cooler and more subtle tones of the present work which provide a strong contrast to the brighter hues of his work from the 1950s, are prophetic of the stylized geometry that became a trademark of his work during the 1970s.

By 1963, the year the present work was begun, Feiler had also been made Head of Painting at the West of England College of Art (later part of Bristol Polytechnic) and alongside two solo exhibitions in the early 1960s at the Grosvenor Gallery, he was widely recognized as one of the most eminent post-war abstract artists working in Britain.