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Lot Essay
'It is impossible for me to make a painting which has no reference to the very powerful environment in which I live. I have to refer back continually to what is under my feet, to what is over my back and to what I see in front of me.'
(Peter Lanyon, recorded interview with Lionel Muskin, 1962)
Lanyon was amongst the first artists in England to recognise the importance of the American Abstract Expressionists. At the time of the 1956 Tate exhibition 'Modern Art in the United States', Lanyon's work was already developing in a broadly similar direction to that of his American counterparts. The boldly expressive paintings he would have seen by de Kooning, Kline, Pollock and Rothko in the final room of the exhibition would have given him confidence in his own conviction. In January 1957, he visited New York for his first one-man exhibition at the Catherine Viviano Gallery. The exhibition was very well received and served as an important platform in forming relationships with the American artists. In fact by the 1960s he was more successful in the United States than in England. Many of his strongest works sold to buyers across the Atlantic to the detriment of his reputation in England.
Lanyon soon became close friends with Motherwell, Rothko and de Kooning. The cross-pollination of ideas and influences has been argued at length, particularly in respect of de Kooning. It would seem the American gained more from the relationship than Lanyon, as the latter's work always remained firmly rooted in the landscape. However, a greater freedom is certainly visible in his work from the late 1950s and at the same time their scale begins to increase. On balance it would be more accurate to classify Lanyon's paintings as 'abstractions' as opposed to the American purely 'abstract' works.
The greatest influence upon Lanyon's work of this period came in 1959 when he took up gliding. His earlier depictions of underground mineshafts and views from cliff tops gave way to soaring views of the entire coast and swells out at sea. Lanyon commented that 'the whole purpose of gliding was to get a more complete knowledge of the landscape, and the pictures now combine the elements of land, sea and sky - earth, air and water. I had always watched birds in flight exploring the landscape, moving more freely than man can, but in a glider I was similarly placed' (Peter Lanyon recorded interview, 1962, reproduced in A. Bowness (intro.), exhibition catalogue, Peter Lanyon, London, Tate Gallery, 1968).
Executed in his most productive year, Sea Going epitomises Lanyon at his expressive best. The intensity at the centre of the composition gives way to calm lighter hues as the viewer is drawn by the swirls of white to the extremes of the canvas. One can interpret the composition as Lanyon escaping the ferociousness of crashing waves as he loops his glider skywards. Through the gestural spontaneity of his brushwork the painting projects a feeling of exhilaration and demonstrates his confidence in his ability. In 1962 Lanyon described the inspiration behind his work from this period, 'Many of my paintings are paintings of weather. I like to paint places where solids and fluids come together, such as the meeting of sea and cliff, of wind and rock, of human body and water, I wasn't satisfied with the tradition of painting landscape from one position only. I wanted to bring together all my feelings about the landscape, and this meant breaking away from the usual method of representing space in a landscape painting - receding like a cone to a vanishing point. I wanted to find a new way of organising the space in a picture' (ibid).
(Peter Lanyon, recorded interview with Lionel Muskin, 1962)
Lanyon was amongst the first artists in England to recognise the importance of the American Abstract Expressionists. At the time of the 1956 Tate exhibition 'Modern Art in the United States', Lanyon's work was already developing in a broadly similar direction to that of his American counterparts. The boldly expressive paintings he would have seen by de Kooning, Kline, Pollock and Rothko in the final room of the exhibition would have given him confidence in his own conviction. In January 1957, he visited New York for his first one-man exhibition at the Catherine Viviano Gallery. The exhibition was very well received and served as an important platform in forming relationships with the American artists. In fact by the 1960s he was more successful in the United States than in England. Many of his strongest works sold to buyers across the Atlantic to the detriment of his reputation in England.
Lanyon soon became close friends with Motherwell, Rothko and de Kooning. The cross-pollination of ideas and influences has been argued at length, particularly in respect of de Kooning. It would seem the American gained more from the relationship than Lanyon, as the latter's work always remained firmly rooted in the landscape. However, a greater freedom is certainly visible in his work from the late 1950s and at the same time their scale begins to increase. On balance it would be more accurate to classify Lanyon's paintings as 'abstractions' as opposed to the American purely 'abstract' works.
The greatest influence upon Lanyon's work of this period came in 1959 when he took up gliding. His earlier depictions of underground mineshafts and views from cliff tops gave way to soaring views of the entire coast and swells out at sea. Lanyon commented that 'the whole purpose of gliding was to get a more complete knowledge of the landscape, and the pictures now combine the elements of land, sea and sky - earth, air and water. I had always watched birds in flight exploring the landscape, moving more freely than man can, but in a glider I was similarly placed' (Peter Lanyon recorded interview, 1962, reproduced in A. Bowness (intro.), exhibition catalogue, Peter Lanyon, London, Tate Gallery, 1968).
Executed in his most productive year, Sea Going epitomises Lanyon at his expressive best. The intensity at the centre of the composition gives way to calm lighter hues as the viewer is drawn by the swirls of white to the extremes of the canvas. One can interpret the composition as Lanyon escaping the ferociousness of crashing waves as he loops his glider skywards. Through the gestural spontaneity of his brushwork the painting projects a feeling of exhilaration and demonstrates his confidence in his ability. In 1962 Lanyon described the inspiration behind his work from this period, 'Many of my paintings are paintings of weather. I like to paint places where solids and fluids come together, such as the meeting of sea and cliff, of wind and rock, of human body and water, I wasn't satisfied with the tradition of painting landscape from one position only. I wanted to bring together all my feelings about the landscape, and this meant breaking away from the usual method of representing space in a landscape painting - receding like a cone to a vanishing point. I wanted to find a new way of organising the space in a picture' (ibid).