Made in Britain
Made in Britain
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