Made in Britain

Made in Britain

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 139. Study - Portreath or Porthleven.

Peter Lanyon

Study - Portreath or Porthleven

Lot Closed

September 23, 12:13 PM GMT

Estimate

1,000 - 1,500 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Peter Lanyon

1918 - 1964

Study - Portreath or Porthleven


inscribed Lanyon (on the reverse)

pencil on paper

sheet: 36.5 by 25.5cm.; 14¼ by 10in.

framed: 52.5 x 41cm.; 20¾ by 16¼in.

Executed circa 1949 or 1952.


We are grateful to Martin Lanyon and Toby Treves for their kind assistance with the cataloguing of the present lot.

The Artist's Estate

Andrew Lanyon, Portreath: The paintings of Peter Lanyon, Andrew Lanyon, Penzance, 1993, illustrated p. 39

Sheila Lanyon, the artist's wife, suggested this work may be a depiction of Portreath circa 1949. However, the latest evidence suggests it is of the pill-box at Porthleven with the life-boat house above, behind and in the distance to the far left. The drawing-style also fits better with pencil drawings done in-and-around St Just in 1952.


Uncertainty plays a vital role in our experience of looking - if only because it energises our readiness to accept another point of view. But it also puts the adventure back into our looking. Having something to look-for was important to Peter Lanyon and he always insisted that his work was never merely abstract but always rooted in the real world he was experiencing around him.


If this is a missing drawing of Porthleven and if it was drawn while Lanyon was working on St Just, it straddles two of his most important paintings - both of which are in the Tate collection.


Martin Lanyon, 2022