Panel discussion: Painting and sculpture in St Ives. Two takes
Bob Law (1934-2004), Yellow-Yellow, Ultrablue, Crimson Red, 1967, acrylic on canvas, 213 x 290 cm, courtessy of Muzeum Sztuki in Lodz
You are cordially invited to a panel discussion with Chris Stephens and Michael Bird, moderated by exhibition curator Paweł Polit.
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What is the specificity of the art created in St Ives? Is this art necessarily oriented towards depicting the landscape? How did the painting and sculpture created in St Ives enrich the tradition of modern art? These and other questions will be discussed in their presentations by distinguished scholars of the work of St Ives artists Michael Bird and Chris Stephens. The former will make a general introduction to the history of St Ives as an art colony and characterise the post-war art scene associated with it. The second will discuss the international dimension of art made in St Ives.
The language of the meeting will be English.
Michael Bird is a writer and independent art historian. He was born in London and educated at Oxford University. His books about modern British art include The St Ives Artists: A Biography of Place and Time, Studio Voices: Art and Life in Twentieth-century Britain, This Is Tomorrow: Twentieth-century Britain and its Artists, and monographs on Sandra Blow, Bryan Wynter and Lynn Chadwick. His children’s history of art, Vincent’s Starry Night and Other Stories, has been translated into many languages, including Polish. In 2022 he co-curated Living the Landscape: Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson and the Artists of St Ives at Museum Belvédère, Heerenveen.
Dr Chris Stephens is the Director of the Holburne Museum, Bath. He worked for over twenty years at Tate where, for most of that time, he was Head of Displays and Head of Modern British Art at Tate Britain. A leading authority on mid-twentieth century British art, his doctoral research was published as St Ives: The Art and the Artists in 2018 and he has published on many of the St Ives artists. Exhibitions he has curated include Barbara Hepworth: Centenary (Tate St Ives 2003), Francis Bacon (Tate Britain 2008), Peter Lanyon (Tate St Ives 2010), Henry Moore (Tate Britain 2010), Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture for a Modern World (Tate Britain 2015) and David Hockney (Tate Britain 2017).
