Patrick Heron: The Colour of Colour Paintings 1965 – 1977

Patrick Heron, Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert

Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert presents the first solo exhibition of work by the British artist Patrick Heron since the gallery announced its representation of the artist’s estate in 2020.

Focusing on a pivotal period in Heron’s career between 1965 and 1977, this selling exhibition includes thirteen important oil paintings, predominantly from the artist’s estate, alongside a group of large gouaches. Many of the works have not been shown publicly for over half a century.

Heron is regarded as one of the most important figures in twentieth-century British art whose remarkable career spanned nearly six decades. Perhaps best known for his significant contribution to abstract painting following World War II, his influential research into colour theory was instrumental in teaching a new generation of artists about the relationship between colour, form and space, while his art criticism helped the public to gain a better understanding and appreciation of international modern art.

Alongside Heron’s extensive knowledge of contemporary American painting, his longstanding affinity with the cultural values of European art allowed him to develop his own highly individual style of abstract painting. Based in a studio in the coastal parish of Zennor near St Ives in Cornwall for much of his life, his early academic interests lay primarily with the School of Paris painters, particularly Braque, Matisse, and Bonnard. By the early 60s, however, he had begun to explore abstraction producing paintings with a closer affiliation to his French contemporaries, Nicholas de Staël and Pierre Soulages. It was not until the mid-60s, where this exhibition at Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert begins, that Heron’s work reveals a truly decisive shift into his own personal language based upon colour and form. Gone are the soft-edged circles and squares which defined his preceding paintings, replaced instead by his ‘wobbly, hard-edged’ forms – a characteristic feature of the works included in this coming exhibition.

Duration 07 October 2021 - 17 December 2021
Times Mon-Fri 10am-6pm
Cost Free
Venue Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert
Address 38 Bury Street, London, SW1 6BB
Contact 4402078397600 / info@hh-h.com / www.hh-h.com

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