Pallant House Gallery - Magazine No.35 (Full Version)

LEON UNDERWOOD Modern Primitive: The Rediscovery of Leon Underwood

Simon Martin examines the theme of the figure in Underwood’s work Joseph Emberton: The Architecture of Display

Catherine Moriarty reappraises the work of modernist architect Joseph Emberton Wood Engraving and the Brook Green School Charlotte Stokes considers Underwood’s influence on his pupils Therapeutic Endeavours?

Marc Steene talks to the creative team of the Graylingwell Heritage Project

£2 Number 35 March – June 2015 www.pallant.org.uk

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Contents Features 18

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Modern Primitive: The Rediscovery of Leon Underwood Simon Martin Joseph Emberton: The Architecture of Display Catherine Moriarty Wood Engraving and the Brook Green School Charlotte Stokes Therapeutic Endeavours?

Marc Steene Insight: A Collaborative Project Anna Zeuner Arts Award: Inspiring Young People Natalie Franklin

Friends Leon Underwood, Two Musicians, c.1925 Watercolour and pencil on paper, Private collection Š The Estate of Leon Underwood Front cover: Leon Underwood, The Diver, 1925 Wood-engraving on paper, Private collection Š The Estate of Leon Underwood

You can find full details of our latest events programme in the What's On guide.

The latest news, exhibitions and events can be found online at www.pallant.org.uk

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Chairman's Letter Friends' Events

Regulars 7 11 15 53 58

Co-Directors' Letter Exhibitions Diary Gallery News What's On: Events Bookshop

You can also follow us at .com/pallantgallery .com/pallantgallery 3

Contributors

With thanks

EDITORIAL Editor Anna Zeuner, a.zeuner@pallant.org.uk Sub Editor Beth Funnell Gallery Editorial Katy Norris, Natalie Franklin, Jennie Gilbert, Simon Martin, Marc Steene Guest Editorial Andrew Lambirth, Charlotte Stokes, Catherine Moriarty Friends' Editorial Lady Nicholas Gordon Lennox, Mary Ambrose Design, Editing and Production David Wynn

LEON UNDERWOOD: FIGURE AND RHYTHM SUPPORTERS

ADVERTISING Booking and General Enquiries Paolo Russo +44 (0)207 300 5751 Emily Knowles +44 (0)207 300 5662 GALLERY INFORMATION Pallant House Gallery, 9 North Pallant, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1TJ, UK +44 (0)1243 774557, info@pallant.org.uk www.pallant.org.uk OPENING TIMES Monday Closed Tuesday–Saturday 10am–5pm Thursday 10am–8pm Sunday/Bank Holidays 11am–5pm

With generous support from Friends of Pallant House Gallery Henry Moore Foundation Leon Underwood Exhibition Supporters’ Circle Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art BRITISH SELF-PORTRAITS: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE RUTH BORCHARD COLLECTION Supported by GALLERY SUPPORTERS Headline Sponsor of the Gallery 2015

PALLANT HOUSE GALLERY Friends

FRIENDS' OFFICE +44 (0)1243 770816 friends@pallant.org.uk BOOKSHOP +44 (0)1243 781293 shop@pallantbookshop.com www.pallantbookshop.com THE PALLANT KITCHEN +44 (0)1243 770827 thekitchen@pallant.org.uk

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Willard Conservation Limited, The Priory and Poling Charitable Trusts, The Garfield Weston Foundation, and other Trusts, Foundations and anonymous benefactors.

Pallant House Gallery makes every effort to seek permission of copyright owners for images reproduced in this publication. If however, a work has not been correctly identified or credited and you are the copyright holder, or know of the copyright holder, please contact the editor.

C U LT U R A L T O U R S F O R D I S C E R N I N G T R AV E L L E R S

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We stay at the 3* hotel Villa Rivoli in Nice’s picturesque Old Town, from where we shall visit galleries in Antibes,Vence and St-Paul-deVence, as well as Nice itself. Highlights include the Marc Chagall Museum and the Maeght Foundation with its stunning collection of works by Picasso, Miró, Hepworth and many others. We see Picasso’s paintings at the Château Grimaldi in Antibes, most of which were donated to the town by the artist. Afterwards we go to Le Cannet where Pierre Bonnard lived for many years.

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CO-DIRECTORS' LETTER

This spring we are delighted to be holding an exciting programme of exhibitions and events to follow our critically acclaimed winter season in which ‘Conscience and Conflict: British Artists and the Spanish Civil War’ drew enthusiastic reviews in the press including The Wall Street Journal, El Pais, The Telegraph and The Spectator.

The exhibition now tours to the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle-upon-Tyne until 7 June 2015. We hope some of you were able to visit the London Art Fair in January which drew over 25,000 visitors and at which Pallant House Gallery was the official Museum Partner.

Our spring exhibition, ‘Leon Underwood: Figure and Rhythm’ is the first major museum retrospective of the artist’s work for over forty years. Underwood (1890–1975) is perhaps an overlooked figure in art history, but through his unconventional teaching was a radical and important influence on a generation of British artists including Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Eileen Agar, amongst others. The exhibition explores Underwood’s treatment of the figure, charting a course from delicate portrait etchings in the early 1920s to life drawings and sculptures expressing rhythm and movement in the 1930s and beyond. To complement the exhibition, we are presenting a selection of wood engravings by Underwood’s Brook Green School pupils, including Henry Moore, Eileen Agar, Gertrude Hermes, Blair Hughes-Stanton and their contempories, who were to form the English Wood Engraving Society.

In the De’Longhi Print Room, we present two exhibitions this season. Firstly, an exhibition of photographs, documents and archive material on modern architect Joseph Emberton (1889-1956) in collaboration with the University of Brighton Design Archives. Emberton was one of the most important architects in Britain in the first half of the 20th century, responsible for the iconic Royal Corinthian Yacht Club at Burnham-on-Crouch (1931) and the celebrated Simpsons of Piccadilly department store (now Waterstone’s flagship bookstore). Emberton was a

Leon Underwood, The Herald of a New Day, cast 1934, Brass, The Sherwin Collection © The Estate of Leon Underwood

lifelong friend and fellow student of Leon Underwood at the Royal College of Art. The second exhibition in the De’Longhi Print Room ‘Drawing the Nude: From Manet to Auerbach’ explores how a range of artists in the Pallant House Gallery collection have depicted the human form, including life drawings by Eric Gill, Michael Andrews, William Coldstream, Peter de Francia and Frank Auerbach.

March sees the closing exhibitions of the yearlong Graylingwell Heritage Project, a project that has brought together the Gallery, West Sussex Record Office, Chichester Community Development Trust and University of Chichester to research, explore and capture the history of the Graylingwell Hospital. The Sussex Artist Award will open for entries, raising money for the Gallery’s community programme and St Wilfrid’s Hospice, and Outside In will be launching its next national exhibition call out later this season.

Finally it is with great sadness that we say a fond farewell to Angus Hewat (1930–2014), a hugely significant figure in the history of the Gallery to whom we are incredibly grateful for so many years of support, and to Ian Askew (1921–2014) supporter and donor of the ‘Askew Cabinet’.

Marc Steene, Executive Director and Simon Martin, Artistic Director 7

A very different collection of photographs gathered by Paul Arden

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EXHIBITIONS DIARY

Leon Underwood, Shores of Knowledge, 1930, oil on canvas, private collection © The Estate of Leon Underwood

LEON UNDERWOOD: FIGURE AND RHYTHM 7 MARCH – 14 JUNE 2015 The first major museum retrospective for over forty years of the British artist Leon Underwood (1890–1975) who was described as ‘the precursor of modern sculpture in Britain’. A significant influence on pupils such as Henry Moore and Eileen Agar, Underwood created a diverse body of paintings, drawings, sculpture and prints. Exploring Underwood’s treatment of the human figure, the exhibition includes his early paintings of soldiers in World War I, his exuberant life drawings of the 1920s and 1930s and his sculptures that were inspired by a enthusiasm for non-western art, particularly African, Mayan and Aztec carvings. The exhibition will demonstrate Underwood’s significance as a figurative painter in the early twentieth-century and his importance as a printmaker in the 1920s and 30s focusing on his etchings, wood engravings and colour linocuts. Main Galleries 12–16 WOOD ENGRAVING AND THE BROOK GREEN SCHOOL: EILEEN AGAR, GERTRUDE HERMES, BLAIR HUGHES-STANTON, HENRY MOORE AND THEIR CONTEMPORARIES 7 MARCH – 14 JUNE 2015 Leon Underwood established his radical drawing school in Hammersmith, known as the Brook Green School of Art, in 1921. He was to teach and influence some of the most gifted artists of the inter-war generation and start the progressive English Wood Engraving Society. This display presents complex and skilled wood engravings of the human form and natural world by Agar, HughesStanton, Moore and their contemporaries. Gallery 17

JOSEPH EMBERTON: THE ARCHITECTURE OF DISPLAY 18 FEBRUARY – 17 MAY 2015 Joseph Emberton (1889–1956) was a significant architect in Britain during the first half of the 20th century. He designed the striking Royal Corinthian Yacht Club at Burnham-on-Crouch (1931) which represented Britain at the Modern Architecture: International Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1932. Five years later two more buildings, the celebrated Simpson (Piccadilly) Ltd. department store (now Waterstone’s flagship bookstore) for which László Moholy-Nagy designed displays and the Southsea branch of Timothy Whites were selected by MoMA for the exhibition Modern Architecture in England. Drawing on the Joseph Emberton Archive and including loans from RIBA Library, this exhibition considers the qualities of these buildings that made the most influential commentators on modern architecture take note.

Emberton was a lifelong friend and fellow-student of Underwood at the Royal College of Art. The exhibition is a collaboration with the University of Brighton Design Archives. De’Longhi Print Room

BRITISH SELF-PORTRAITS: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE RUTH BORCHARD COLLECTION UNTIL 31 MAY 2015 Writer Ruth Borchard’s significant collection of selfportraits by British artists provides a fascinating overview of 20th century British art. It focuses on portraits by both emerging and established artists, tracing the development of modern British art through Neo-Romanticism, the Euston Road School, the London Group and the Pop Art movement. It includes portraits made by artists practising in the 1930s and 1940s including Michael Ayrton, Cecil Collins and Ithell Colquhoun, as well as those who found prominence in the post-war era such as Peter Coker, Jean Cooke, Roger Hilton, Peter Phillips, David Tindle and Euan Uglow. The exhibition is supported by Piano Nobile. Galleries 3 and 4 11

EXHIBITIONS DIARY Studio Exhibitions

Frank Auerbach, Nude Seated with Arms Above her Head, 1954, Drypoint engraving on paper, Pallant House Gallery (Wilson Gift through The Art Fund) © The Artist, Courtesy Marlborough Fine Art

DRAWING THE NUDE: FROM MANET TO AUERBACH 20 MAY – 19 JULY 2015 Inspired by Leon Underwood's revolutionary approach to life drawing this exhibition selected from the Pallant House Gallery collection explores how a range of modern and historic artists depicted the human form, including life drawings by Eric Gill, Michael Andrews, William Coldstream, Peter de Francia and Frank Auerbach. De’Longhi Print Room ALICE KETTLE: ODYSSEY UNTIL MAY 2015 An installation of stitched wall-hangings in the stairwell and hallway of the Queen Anne townhouse by Alice Kettle (b.1961), one of Britain’s leading textile artists.

Recalling the tradition of large figurative tapestries in historic houses, these works use stitch in a contemporary manner to create painterly effects with rich surface textures. Two of the works draw upon Homer’s enduring epic narrative poem The Odyssey.

Stairwell EMILY YOUNG: FOUR HEADS UNTIL MAY 2015 A group of stone heads by Emily Young (b.1951), widely acknowledged as Britain’s greatest living stone sculptor. Young carves directly into blocks of stone, to reveal human presences within whilst expressing the qualities of the material. Garden Gallery

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THERAPEUTIC ENDEAVOURS? 10 MARCH – 19 APRIL 2015 The Graylingwell Heritage Project is a Heritage Lottery Funded community based arts and heritage programme which explores the social and cultural history of the Graylingwell Hospital in Chichester.

Pallant House Gallery is a key partner. This exhibition will show the individual responses of the Creative Team – comprised of members of the Gallery’s Community Programme - to historical material generated through the project and to work made in collaboration with patients and community groups. It explores the impact of mental health issues on individuals and the tension between personal perceptions of mental health and those of the medical profession.

CREATING UNTITLED: ARTS AWARD 21 APRIL – 31 MAY 2015 Work by members of our young people’s group (13-18 years), produced as part of their Bronze Arts Award.

The Arts Award scheme is managed by Trinity College London in association with Arts Council England, Arts Award’s unique qualifications support young people to develop as artists and arts leaders.

FRIENDS OF CHARTRES CHAPTER 5: CHICHESTER & CHARTRES - LIGHT & DARK 2 JUNE – 28 JUNE 2015 A photography-based exhibition, produced by local school pupils for our sixth annual Schools Art Competition.

LEON UNDERWOOD

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GALLERY NEWS

THE GEORGE AND ANN DANNATT GIFT GROWS We have recently received three new works as a further addition to The George and Ann Dannatt Gift. These are: Alfred Cohen’s Off Honfleur (1969–70), William Crozier’s Untitled Abstract (1962) and Peter Lanyon’s Landscape with Vines (Near Arles) (1938). The latter is believed to be one of the earliest works in oils by the artist and was painted in the artist’s attic studio in St Ives. The work is representative of Lanyon’s early style before he became influenced by Ben Nicholson and moved towards a greater abstraction of shape and space.

ART VIEWS AND THE LIVING WITH DEMENTIA FESTIVAL The recently formed Chichester Cultural Learning Partnership (CCLP), formed of six museum, arts and culture organisations in the Chichester region, including Pallant House Gallery, is holding an eight week Festival from April to May 2015 inviting people living with dementia and their carers to a range of dementia friendly events. Art based activities will be held at the Gallery during the Festival, including the new series, Art Views (tickets £3.50), which gives people the opportunity to look at, explore and discuss art works in the Gallery collections. Art Views is dementia friendly as well as being open to anyone interested in joining an art discussion and equally suitable for those with art history knowledge and those just beginning to develop their art interests. The aim is to stimulate imagination, communicate and share interpretations of 5-6 artworks in an hour long discussion followed by tea and cake. The Gallery will also run some creative workshops and a tour of the Gallery during the Festival. Contact Head of Learning and Community Sandra Peaty on s.peaty@pallant.org.uk or 07788 489536 or pick up a copy of our What’s On leaflet.

LATEST ADDITION TO GOLDER-THOMPSON GIFT We have also received the wood cut by Nana Shiomi, One Hundred Views of Mitate No.88 - Great Buddha (2011) which was selected by Friends of Pallant House during their visit to Rabley Drawing Centre in October to be the latest addition to the Golder–Thompson Gift. Nana has also presented a second print from the series: One Hundred Views of Mitate No.48 - Mirror (Artist’s Proof 2001) together with four wood blocks and three sheets following three stages of the printing process illustrating the application of colour. She uses a combination of traditional Japanese methods and modern techniques and tools and her generous gift provides a fascinating insight into her working methods.

Nana Shiomi, One Hundred Views of Mitate No.88 - Great Buddha, 2011, Woodcut in the ukiyo-e tradition on paper, Pallant House Gallery (The Golder - Thompson Gift, 2014) © The Artist Top left: Peter Lanyon, Landscape with Vines (Near Arles), 1938, Oil on board, Pallant House Gallery (The George and Ann Dannatt Gift, 2014) © The Estate of Peter Lanyon

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CORPORATE SUPPORT OF PALLANT HOUSE GALLERY Pallant House Gallery launches a Corporate Support package this spring enabling businesses of any size to demonstrate their commitment to culture through supporting one of the best collections of modern art in the UK. Bespoke Corporate Membership and Corporate Partnership schemes are available, with access to private views, discounted venue hire, special events and high level networking opportunities just some of the benefits on offer. Contact Groups and Hospitality Coordinator Helen Martin on h.martin@pallant.org.uk and 01243 770838.

EXTERNAL LOANS 2015 is already proving a busy year for external loans with requests received from venues in the Netherlands, France, Germany and Sweden among others. Three works by Edward Burra from the collection including The Harbour, Hastings (1947) can be seen at the Jerwood Gallery as part of their ‘In Focus’ exhibition from 25 February to 7 June 2015. The Architects (1981), and Books and Ex-Patriot (c.1960) by R.B. Kitaj will be included in the exhibition ‘R.B. Kitaj: Unpacking My Library’ at the Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam from 19 March to 12 July 2015. Also in March, Richard Hamilton’s iconic Hers is a Lush Situation (1958) will be a key exhibit in the exhibition ‘International Pop’ at the Walker Art Center Minneapolis, 11 April to September 6 2015; Dallas Museum of Art, 11 October 2015 to 17 January 2016 and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 18 February – 18 May 2016.

OUTSIDE IN TAKES PART IN HOUSE FESTIVAL Pallant House Gallery’s pioneering project Outside In has formed an official partnering with HOUSE Festival for the Brighton Festival 2015. Outside In has asked artists from Brighton and Sussex represented on its website to submit work for possible inclusion in an exhibition as part of the Festival. The show will touch upon the more general HOUSE theme - edge, shift and marginality and will take place at a location in central Brighton in May. Visit www.outsidein.org.uk for more information.

BRONZE ART AWARDS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE Creating Untitled, the Gallery’s successful programme for young people, is taking on a new Arts Awards focus for 2015. A scheme managed by Trinity College London in association with Arts Council England, Arts Award’s unique qualifications support young people aged 13-18 to develop as artists and arts leaders. The first series of workshops is running February – May 2015. Contact Learning Programme Manager Natalie Franklin on n.franklin@pallant.org.uk to be added to the waiting list and to the Creating Untitled mailing list.

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R.B. Kitaj, The Architects, 1981, Oil on canvas, Pallant House Gallery (Wilson Loan, 2006) © Estate of R B Kitaj Top left: Richard Hamilton, Hers is a Lush Situation, 1958, Oil, cellulose, metal foil and collage on panel, Pallant House Gallery (Wilson Gift through The Art Fund, 2006) © Estate of Richard Hamilton

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MODERN PRIMITIVE: THE REDISCOVERY OF LEON UNDERWOOD To coincide with the first major museum retrospective of the work of Leon Underwood for over forty years Artistic Director Simon Martin considers the importance of the human figure in the development of the artist’s work.

There has been a tendency in the history of Modern British art for significant and often influential artists to fall from view as society and fashions change. One such figure is Leon Underwood (1890-1975), once described as the ‘precursor of modern sculpture in Britain’ and yet, unlike his celebrated students Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, by no means a household name.

The last major museum retrospective of Underwood’s work was held at the Minories in Colchester in 1969.

There has been little public exposure since, although recently his contribution to Modernism in Britain has been acknowledged through inclusion of his work in exhibitions such as Modern British Sculpture and Mexico: A Revolution in Art at the Royal Academy, and one of his major sculptures was included in Tate Britain’s recent collection rehang. In 1974 Sir John Rothenstein, once Director of the Tate, wrote a forward for a biography of Underwood in which he declared, ‘the time is long overdue for such a book as this, as it is for a major retrospective exhibition of this masterly and many-sided creator, so long overlooked.’ Over forty years later, it continues to be overdue and thus Pallant House Gallery’s exhibition will hopefully introduce the artist’s work to new generations of viewers and enable him to be reappraised with fresh eyes.

There is no simple explanation as to why Underwood has been so overlooked as an artist.

Perhaps partly it is because he was so versatile in his creativity: a painter, sculptor, draughtsman, printmaker, poet and novelist, not to mention an influential

teacher. As early as 1924, the art critic RH Wilenski was to write admiringly of Underwood’s ‘restless progress’, a comment that was to hold true for the rest of the artist’s career, meaning he did not have an immediately recognisable ‘style’ that could be categorised by critics. Yet, whilst his work was always changing, he was to remain devoted to the representation of the human figure, and particularly to drawing from life.

Underwood believed in the importance of subject matter and spiritual content, rather than the prevailing belief in significant form that was espoused by Roger Fry, Clive Bell and others. Although he was a founding member of the Seven and Five Society, Underwood was to reject pure abstraction in his own work. As a young man he had encountered William Blake’s celebrated engraving Glad Day, recognising in it a quality that he was to describe as ‘a romantic denial of the actual’. This was to play a significant part in Underwood’s own developing philosophies of art.

After studying at the Regent Street Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art between 1910 and 1913 Underwood’s travels in Russian Poland were curtailed by the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, leading him to undertake a desperate escape through the Baltic through Finland, Sweden and Norway. Like so many others of his generation, his development as an artist was placed on hold for the next five years of his life due to the war, during which time he served in the Royal Horse Artillery and the 2nd London Field Battery, before being transferred to the Camouflage

Leon Underwood, Self Portrait in a Landscape, 1921, Etching on paper, Private collection © The Estate of Leon Underwood

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Leon Underwood, Venus in Kensington Gardens, 1921, Oil on canvas, Collection of Lord Archer and Dame Mary Archer DL © The Estate of Leon Underwood

Section where his artistic skills were put to good use.

His experiences were to inspire a commission for the War Artists Committee in 1919 of soldiers erecting a camouflage tree in the trenches in order to disorient the enemy. The painting is essentially a heroic study of the human figure in action, for which Underwood’s brother Horace posed for all the figures. Aside from this and another official portrait commission, in his depiction of the figure Underwood was to break with the social conventions of his age. In his painting Venus in Kensington Gardens (1921) Underwood presented a nude model surrounded by a group of friends and family, provocatively and wittily updating the Impressionist imagery of Manet’s infamous Déjeuner sur l’Herbe (1863) and Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party (1881) to the 1920s. Underwood’s preparatory studies for the painting reveal his careful planning of the composition and the strength of his draughtsmanship, which was also evident in the remarkable series of etchings that he produced in a period of two years between 1921-22, described by the art historian Christopher Neve as ‘unsurpassed of their kind in the period immediately after the war.’ The final state of the arresting Self Portrait in a Landscape (1921), in which the young artist is depicted with pipe in mouth 20

looking resolutely towards the viewer was acquired for the British Museum, which subsequently amassed a significant collection of his prints. Underwood proved himself skilled at character studies in his other portrait etchings, such as Granny Ashdown (1922), a tender portrayal of an aged farm worker whom he drew directly onto the plate. Yet, just when his etchings became sought after and the Chenil Gallery starting showing them alongside the then famous Augustus John, Underwood ceased making them.

Underwood’s skills as a draughtsman were remarkable and unconventional. Within a year of attending the Slade School to study drawing under Henry Tonks he became assistant teacher of life drawing at the Royal College of Art, where his students included Barbara Hepworth. Underwood was to open his own drawing school known as the Brook Green School at his lifelong home and studio in Hammersmith in January 1921. Rejecting an academic approach to drawing, he instead emphasized individuality and the need to convey volume, mass and direction with great economy. ‘There is no English artist of his generation who can inspire those who believe in him with more enthusiasm or who has had more influence on the other English artists of his age’, wrote the critic RH Wilenski.

Leon Underwood, The Dance of Salome (Dancer), 1924, Painted marble, Private collection © The Estate of Leon Underwood

Leon Underwood, The Skylight (The Studio), 1925, Wood-engraving on paper, Private collection, © The Estate of Leon Underwood

Underwood taught some of the most gifted students of the interwar generation, including Eileen Agar, Blair Hughes-Stanton and Gertrude Hermes, as well as Vivian Pitchforth, Henry Moore and Raymond Coxon, who attended special evening classes outside of their studies at the RCA. Moore was to praise Underwood’s ‘passionate attitude towards drawing from life. He set out to teach the science of drawing, of expressing solid form on a flat surface and not the photographic copying of tone values, nor the art school limitations of style in drawing.’ One of Underwood’s lists of topics of study gives an insight into his maverick and all-embracing approach to art teaching: ‘A Cézanne, a strip of film, a Monet, caricature by Rowlandson, Vincent van Gogh, El Greco, Blake’s Whirlwind of Lovers, The Hopeless Dawn, Stanhope Forbes, Gauguin, photo of Surrealist sculpture, pre-Raphaelite, Surrealist painting, a piece of extreme sculpture.’

Underwood had started collecting African tribal sculpture in 1919, and inspired by its vitality and directness of expression he began carving embryonic shapes into pebbles and sculpting wood and alabaster, informed by totemic tribal forms, such as his phallicshaped Mountain God (1923). Seeking to learn more about ‘primitive’ cultures he used his Prix de

Rome premium to travel to Iceland (rather than the intended destination of Rome), where he painted the fishing communities and in 1925 he was one of the first modern artists to visit the prehistoric caves at Altamira in Spain, which housed ancient drawings of bison. These were to have a profound impact on his understanding of recurring cycles of style that forty years later he published in a pamphlet entitled The Cycle of Style in Art, Religion, Science and Technology.

Fascinated by the relevance of prehistoric art to the 20th century, he studied the Bronze Age, learning bronze-casting techniques and making replicas of bronze-age tools.

After wood engraving was introduced to the Brook Green School in 1923, Underwood and his pupils began to experiment with wood engraving and linocutting tools and techniques to achieve unusual new effects, and they were to form the English Wood Engraving Society in 1925. The ‘Underwood School of Wood Engraving’ (as it has become known) developed from the interaction between tutor and students, in particular Gertrude Hermes and Blair HughesStanton, rather than being led by Underwood himself.

Having previously concentrated on ‘art prints’ he was to become a leading figure in wood-engraved book 21

Left: Leon Underwood, Mask of Apollo in Autumn, 1933, Painted wood, The Sherwin Collection © The Estate of Leon Underwood Above right: Leon Underwood, Cover design for the Island, 1931 Wood-engraving on paper, Private collection © The Estate of Leon Underwood Opposite page : Leon Underwood, Volcano, 1934, Wood-engraving on paper, Private collection © The Estate of Leon Underwood

illustration after moving to New York in 1926, where he opened a private drawing school in Greenwich Village (having left the Brook Green School in the hands of Blair Hughes-Stanton), creating illustrations for various book publishers and magazines such as The New Yorker and Vanity Fair. His own books Animalia (1926) and The Siamese Cat (1927) featured witty combinations of imagery and text with a strong sense of design, but it was his work as illustrator for Phillips Russell’s book The Red Tiger (1929) that was to have the greatest impact on his career. The book recorded the journey that Underwood and Phillips Russell made across Mexico in 1928, travelling by pack-mules, horses, canoes and banana barge, visiting the ancient Aztec and Mayan sites and towns such as Merida and Tehuantepec.

After his return to England and re-opening the Brook Green School Underwood had a wealth of exotic inspiration to draw on from his Mexican trip and he created numerous paintings and engravings on Mexican themes, not only of people, but of temples and ancient sculptures such as the Chacmool, tapping into a wider interest in the writings of DH Lawrence (whose step-daughter attended the School) and the work of Mexican muralists such as Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. Underwood carved elaborate 22

decorative frames for these paintings, creating ‘total’ artworks that unified his work as painter and sculptor.

Whilst other British artists were deliberating over the question of how to ‘go modern and be British’ Underwood had sidestepped the debate entirely by drawing on his first-hand experience of native traditions.

His own unofficial ‘Underwood School’ was to find a mouthpiece in the short-lived magazine ‘The Island’, which was first published in 1931 and included poems, art works and articles by Agar, Moore, Hermes and even Mahatma Gandhi. Underwood’s cover design condenses into a single image a witty response to the discovery of non-western art by artists in the early 20th century. A stylised male figure reclines on a desert island, his angular limbs arranged in such a way that human and island together suggest the outline of a tribal mask. Whilst many modern artists adopted the forms of tribal art in a search for an authentic voice, Underwood was aware of the tension and presents a ‘modern primitive’ speaking into a telephone receiver – the epitome of technology, progress and communication and so in contact with the outside world. The second issue of the magazine was to feature an image of Underwood’s sculptural project for

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a cathedral – a temple to the arts – to be made from reinforced concrete in the shape of a Mayan goddess with minarets from which ‘Muezzin Art-Priests would broadcast the wireless call to prayer.’ His carved wood maquette caused consternation amongst the press, but heralded his return to sculpture, and the creation of directly carved wood and stone sculptures. These sculptures fused his great knowledge of the directness and vitality of tribal art with his understanding of European traditions, such as his Recumbent Knight (Catafalque) (1935) and the controversial African Madonna (1935), now St George’s Cathedral, Cape Town, which reinterpreted Gothic sculptural forms through the lens of African tribal sculpture – and was intended to encourage young Africans to work in their native traditions.

In 1932 Underwood curated the ground-breaking exhibition ‘Sculpture Considered Apart from Time and Place’ for the Sydney Burney Gallery (which created the celebrated 1934 Model Modern Art Gallery on long-term loan to Pallant House Gallery) presenting the work of modern artists including Moore, Hepworth, Hermes, Skeaping, Modigliani, Degas, Gaudier-Brzeska and Underwood alongside dancing Shivas from India, masks from Africa, Aztec figures and Buddhas from China. Underwood sought to express what he called ‘sculptural consciousness’, linking all periods. His appreciation of ‘the rhythm of materials’ was to inform the dramatic sculptures he created in the 1930s, such as the optimistic chased brass figure Herald of a New Day (1934) wherein the material from which the sculpture was made perfectly expressed the subject. Such sculptures relate closely to the fluidity and freedom of his quickly produced life drawings of dancing figures, which expressed the rhythm and movement of the human form. These works seem to make manifest Underwood’s belief in the ‘life giving force’ of the figure and his goal of expressing a sense of ‘pure plastic rhythm’ in his sculptures and drawings.

The colour linocuts that he produced in the late 1930s and 40s have a close visual relationship to the forms and subject matter of his sculpture, in particular conveying a sense of the solidity of the figure through colour and relief-printing.

Underwood’s profound awareness of non-western art was deepened after he travelled through West Africa in 1944, supported by the British Council, to lecture on the significance of African tribal art on Western culture. His studies of indigenous tribal art confirmed that apparently abstract form in African sculpture in fact held recognisable meaning to its 24

Opposite page (From top): Leon Underwood, Recumbant Knight (Catafalque), 1935, Pynkado wood with silber inlay, Private Collection © The Estate of Leon Underwood Leon Underwood, Chaac-Mool’s Destiny, 1929, Oil on canvas, Private collection © The Estate of Leon Underwood

respective tribe. Returning to England with an enormous collection of African art (much of which was later sold to the British Museum, among other museums), Underwood was to write three seminal books on the bronzes, masks and figures in wood of West Africa. He was to create a body of paintings, linocuts and bronzes in which his treatment of the human form had become increasingly faceted, and concerned with the rhythm of the figure in space.

This included public sculptures such as a relief entitled Industry for the Commercial Development Building in Old Street, London designed by his lifelong friend, the architect Joseph Emberton, whose daughter was to marry his younger son.

Crucially, these works did not reduce the subjects to decorative motifs in the way that so many other European artists had done. Indeed Underwood was to reinterpret classical themes associated with western ideals of beauty, such as the birth of Venus, using African women as the protagonists. In later life, Underwood was increasingly preoccupied with his theory of the ‘cycle of styles’, which found form in sculptures such as 40,000 Years (1960) in which an attenuated Giacometti-esque figure gazes down on a voluptious Venus of Willendorf, or Piping Down the Valleys (1961) which returns to the personal vision of William Blake that he had first encountered in his father’s print shop.

Underwood’s complex ideas and, sometimes, esoteric philosophies, were not always to endear him to the mainstream. As Rothenstein was to note, ‘No artist of his generation of remotely comparable achievement has been so little honoured; indeed so neglected.’ Yet thirty years after his death, hopefully this exhibition will help reassess his legacy and further secure Leon Underwood’s position in the firmament of Modern British art.

Leon Underwood: Figure and Rhythm runs at Pallant House Gallery from 7 March – 14 June 2015. A programme of talks (see p.53) and a fully illustrated catalogue (available in the Bookshop) accompanies the exhibition.

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JOSEPH EMBERTON: THE ARCHITECTURE OF DISPLAY A collaborative exhibition with the University of Brighton Design Archives in the De’Longhi Print Room considers the work of British architect Joseph Emberton, overlooked in the history of modern architecture, yet revered by commentators of the time. Exhibition Curator Professor Catherine Moriarty introduces his work.

Unlikely though it may seem, a chemist’s shop less than fifteen miles from Chichester was selected by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, for the 1937 exhibition Modern Architecture in England. The Southsea branch of Timothy Whites, the work of architect Joseph Emberton (1889-1956), which opened in 1934, featured a distinctive grid façade of white, rough-cast glass held by steel strips, over which were laid bands of lettering and the symbol of pharmacists – the carboy – reduced to essentials in bent steel tubing and neon.

The exhibition featured another of Emberton’s buildings, the upmarket outfitters Simpson (Piccadilly) Ltd. Completed in 1936 and retaining a distinctive place in London’s retail landscape, this structure proposed a far more sophisticated shopping experience but one in which the spectacle of display remained paramount.

From the street, through the entrances and circulation areas, and within this multi-level expanse of curved counters, luxurious surfaces, and the imaginative display and lighting of stock, customers experienced a considered and sensuous unfolding of retail space.

Selected by those whose views shaped the definition and representation of modern architecture, and also its history, the MoMA exhibition had enormous influence. It assembled a compendium of buildings that together presented a cohesive visual story of ‘good work’ in England that, by way of exemplar, might help fend off the spectres of ‘blatant revivalism, sickly traditionalism, and pseudo-

modernism.’ While the names of many of the architects included went on to become widely known, Emberton’s did not, yet several of his buildings possessed qualities that in the inter-war years ranked him in the first order.

In an essay that accompanied the 1937 exhibition, Henry-Russell Hitchcock discussed Berthold Lubetkin’s penguin pool at London Zoo, arguing that in providing a setting for an activity it solved an ‘essential functional problem’. This analysis provides a useful way of considering Emberton’s buildings. He too, was particularly good at creating settings, often involving viewers and the observed. This skill at display, be it of commodities in a retail or exhibition context, of people shopping, promenading or eating, of activities related to spectacle, could perhaps sum up the qualities of Emberton’s best structures.

The first of his buildings to attract international attention was his yacht club at Burnham-on-Crouch in 1931. The experience, in this relatively modest building, is of the space outside, of lightness and glass. The pontoon-like structure seems more part of the water than the land, both inside and out, with unobstructed views through the glass frontage. It is the highly effective creation of a setting for those yachting, and those observing from the clubrooms, the judge’s box, or the roof and balconies with their purportedly ‘unclimbable’ balustrades. Featured in the architectural press nationally and internationally, it attracted the attention of Philip Johnson who, as director of MoMA’s 1932 exhibition of modern architecture, requested

Simpson (Piccadilly) Ltd., 1936. Exterior at night. Joseph Emberton Archive, University of Brighton Design Archives.

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Above: Joseph Emberton, Timothy Whites chemists, Southsea, 1934, Architectural Press Archive / RIBA Library Photographs Collection Opposite page: HMV (His Master's Voice) record store, Oxford Street, London, 1936/9, Joseph Emberton Archive, University of Brighton Design Archives

photographs for inclusion. While criticising the standardized wrought iron exterior spiral staircase, a Victorian hangover that rather marred the building, Johnson sympathized with Emberton’s response that, due to budget and availability, he had had no alternative. The building also illustrated an article by the Dutch architect J J P Oud – whose work represented Holland in the 1932 exhibition - in which he claimed, ‘Modern architecture can be outlined in a few words only: seeking clear forms for clearly expressed needs.’

However, the experience of this seeking and its resolution could be thwarted by a number of factors; the logistics of construction, building practices and regulations, the influence of clients or paymasters, and criticism or lack of support from the public and professional colleagues. A pragmatist rather than an idealist, Emberton was nonetheless prepared to make his opinions known when roused. In 1932 he described as ‘flabby thinking’ a condemnation of modern architecture expressed by the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, William Inge. Emberton retorted, ‘steel and concrete are the materials of a new age. They have vast possibilities and there is no justification whatever for imposing on the materials of today the limitations of another age.’

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In 1929, the speed at which Emberton’s exhibition hall at Olympia was being constructed attracted much comment in the press. A steel frame clad in concrete, the ‘Empire’s Largest Shop’ was 330ft long, comprising four floors each with an exhibiting area of 60,000 square feet. Emberton’s challenge was the safe circulation of thousands of people and the effective display of exhibits. Lifts were installed to take large items to upper floors, those for the public were fitted with loudspeakers that announced the displays on each floor, and signage and orientation were paid great attention. However, the exterior of artificial stone, like the stairs at Burnham, and adaptations to the supporting structure at Simpson’s, was seen to sully its credentials as a work of modern architecture, criticism detractors were keen to repeat.

Having worked on exhibition stands for trade shows in Britain and in Europe, Emberton had experience of creating settings for events on a grand scale. He went on to deploy his knowledge of public circulation when he was commissioned to design elements of the Pleasure Beach at Blackpool in 1935, and four years later, its casino. Here, too, the creation of a setting for leisure and consumption on a mass scale resulted in inventive spaces for entertainment and refreshment, with form and lighting used to entice and delight. His HMV shop in Oxford Street (1939) demonstrated a similarly experiential approach, with the storage, distribution and presentation of stock addressed in minute detail, and everything arranged to best effect for both staff and customers. Fittings and furniture absorbed Emberton. He designed a great deal himself, often employing new materials such as Plymax, aluminium, tubing and veneers. Designers with the credentials of László Moholy-Nagy and Ashley Havinden were engaged by Alexander Simpson to create signage, displays and advertising to complement Emberton’s architecture.

Despite designing various residential schemes small blocks of flats in the East End before the war, the larger Stafford Cripps estate at Old Street in 1953, and devising an innovative steel house prototype (1946) that he hoped would help solve Britain’s slum and reconstruction problems - Emberton is not known for his housing. Indeed the MARS (Modern Architectural Research) Group, a younger generation of architects and designers who saw themselves as protagonists in the transformation of a built environment fit for modern society, were positioning themselves as baton-carriers. Among the papers of one its founder members, Wells Coates, as Elizabeth Darling reveals

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Above: Fun House at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, 1935 Opposite page: The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham-on-Crouch, 1931 Joseph Emberton Archive, University of Brighton Design Archives.

in her research, is a list of those architects who were not to be invited to join the group and Emberton’s name is on it. Perhaps because of his association with architects including Thomas Tait (1882–1954), seen as being proto-modern rather than pure modernists, because his best buildings were associated with leisure and pleasure, rather than housing, health or education, and perhaps because of his connection to advertising and some of the distinctly arts décoratifs projects of his earlier career, Emberton was – despite prestigious recognition on the other side of the Atlantic – sidelined from the story of modern architecture in England as it was to evolve: his early death in 1956 also meant that his work had to stand undefended for many years.

It is the press-cuttings, correspondence and photographs in Emberton’s archive that reveal the highs and lows of his career, the debate that surrounded his work and the way it was received at particular times. From this largely paper-based body of material emerges an invitation to experience at first hand the buildings by Emberton that have survived.

Indeed, exhibitions of material from particular archives present the same problem as exhibitions about architecture; both need to be appreciated as a whole, 30

as a set of relations between things in space that are best understood in situ. Certainly, despite dramatic changes in occupant or surroundings, the way that Emberton strove to introduce modern ideas to the British public’s experience of space is still discernable.

As well as yacht club members and purchasers of DAKS trousers these included hordes of trippers at Blackpool (recorded so evocatively in the 1937 Worktown images of Humphrey Spender) and thousands of exhibition visitors annually at Olympia. In a history of modern architecture in England defined by buildings, as MoMA constructed it, his best work certainly retains its place, but in one where the architects take centre stage, the unassuming and not always consistent Emberton was easy to overlook. His story, alongside but very different from that of his friend and fellow student Leon Underwood, is one of those that allow us to enjoy the complexity and contradictions that established art and design narratives tended to smooth over.

Joseph Emberton: The Architecture of Display runs in the De’Longhi Print Room at Pallant House Gallery from 18 February – 17 May 2015. A talk on Modern Architecture in Britain by Catherine Croft from the Twentieth Century Society takes place on Thursday 23 April at 6pm.

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WOOD-ENGRAVING AND THE BROOK GREEN SCHOOL Artists including Eileen Agar, Gertrude Hermes, Blair Hughes-Stanton and Henry Moore were students of Leon Underwood in the 1920s. Marking a complementary display on the wood engraving of the Brook Green School Art Historian Charlotte Stokes considers his influence on a younger generation.

It was at Leon Underwood’s Brook Green School, set up at the artist’s home in Girdlers Road, Hammersmith, that some of the leading artists of the inter-war years learnt the art of wood-engraving. Students of the School including, among others, Eileen Agar, Gertrude Hermes, Blair Hughes-Stanton, Mary Groom, Marion Mitchell, Henry Moore and Rodney Thomas, undoubtedly benefited from Underwood’s alternative teaching which sought to avoid ‘the harmful and repressive influences of orthodox art training’. Perhaps more significantly, Underwood and his students formed a close social group, in which they enjoyed elaborate fancy-dress parties, celebrated weddings and took holidays together. It was in this context that Hermes and Hughes-Stanton became close and later married. In 1923 Hughes-Stanton travelled to Iceland with Underwood and Rodney Thomas, and in 1925 Underwood and his pupils visited Paris, and completed a painting expedition which included visits to Dalmatia, Assisi, Perugia and San Marcello and other sites of art historical interest.

Underwood’s teaching primarily focused on life drawing. However, he encouraged students to experiment in other areas, particularly printmaking. In this medium he treated his students as colleagues, the group working together to master the discipline. Brook Green pupil Marion Mitchell introduced the group to the multiple tool technique, using an instrument that engraves between three and eight parallel lines at once. Brook Green printmaking of this period can be characterized by an interest in ‘primitive’ subject matter and its use of flecked white line.

After leaving Brook Green, Hermes and HughesStanton maintained close connections with Underwood and their school friends. In 1925 the couple alongside ?

Underwood and Mary Groom, among others, founded the English Wood Engraving Society, in opposition to the Society of Wood Engravers. In 1926 the couple spent their honeymoon with Eileen Agar and her partner Joseph Bard in Varengeville. Finally, in 1931 they contributed to the Brook Green publication The Island, which also included contributions from Agar, Moore and even an article by Mahatma Gandhi.

Hermes and Hughes-Stanton received significant recognition for their contribution to printmaking practice. In 1926, they were commissioned to illustrate T. E. Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom, privately printed, and other commissions followed, including Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, published by Cresset Press.

In 1930, they were appointed to prestigious posts at Gregynog Press – Hughes-Stanton became Artist to the Press and Hermes worked as Wood Engraver to the Press. They moved to Tregynon, with their young children, to begin work in October 1930. HughesStanton enjoyed his role, working on publications such as The Revelation of Saint John the Divine. However, Hermes was deeply unhappy in Tregynon and the few plates that exist from this time are testament to this.

Although Hermes and Hughes-Stanton separated in late 1931, with Hermes returning to London to stay with Leon and Mary Underwood, they remained on good terms with one another. Both artists remained life-long friends with Underwood, as did other former students of Underwood’s remarkable school.

A selection of prints by students from the Brook Green School will be exhibited in Room 17 from 7 March to 14 June. A talk on Wood Engraving in Britain will take place on 26 March 2015 and the Brook Green School on 4 June.

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THERAPEUTIC ENDEAVOURS?

The Graylingwell Heritage Project is a Heritage Lottery Funded community based arts and heritage programme which explores the social and cultural history of the Graylingwell Hospital in Chichester, formerly the West Sussex County Asylum. As a key partner Pallant House Gallery is leading the project’s creative element with a team of artists from the Gallery’s Community Programme - Lynne Firmager, Tess Springall and Kate Simms – led by local artist Rachel Johnston.

Here Executive Director Marc Steene talks to the creative team ahead of Therapeutic Endeavours?, a free exhibition held in the Studio this Spring.

MARC STEENE: The Project has been developed by a partnership of local organisations including the University of Chichester, West Sussex Record Office and Chichester Community Development Trust. Rachel, as lead artist on the creative team, could you tell us a little about this wider partnership?

RACHEL JOHNSTON: The partnership was developed to ensure that different facets of Graylingwell’s history would be addressed during the project. The Record Office has been digitising case books which document the admission and treatment of patients from the time the hospital opened in 1897 until its closure in 2002.

We have been able to view entries over 100 years old which are fascinating and very moving. With the help of volunteers, historical material held by the WSRO and further afield has been interpreted by community Magic lantern images created by project participants working with the Pallant House Gallery creative team

historian Maureen Wright, and a host of personal human stories have been gathered from those with a connection to the hospital by oral historian Gillian Edom.

The oral history and art elements of the project have particular resonance as they offer voices to people whose stories would not normally have been heard.

MS: With Lynne, Kate and Tess, you make up the official creative team on this project. As artists what have you enjoyed most about the project itself, and were there any particular challenges that you have overcome?

RJ: The aim of this project has been to allow untold stories to rise to the surface and that has happened especially through the art and oral history. Inevitably discussion around the history of Graylingwell Hospital has brought to the surface difficult memories for some people. Working with others is about finding your way through things, compromise and discussion. I see that as endlessly interesting and surprising. In terms of technique, we made sure to use processes that tied in with historical elements of the project. Knitting was one of the tasks that female patients undertook from early on in the hospital’s history and it continued as part of occupational therapy later on. The cyanotypes are an early photographic process and the means by which Arthur Blomfield produced his original architectural plans for the hospital, and the discovery of a magic lantern left over from the hospital inspired us to create small 60mm square slides with workshop participants.

KATE SIMMS: This is the first community project 35

I’ve worked on and I was worried my voice would be lost. To my delight my creativity has been strengthened and stimulated by the talented artists I am working alongside. We started as a group of individuals with our own lived mental health experiences, emotions, understandings and project expectations and I now have three firm friends.

My favourite part of the project has been creating art alongside the patients and staff on the wards still at Graylingwell. It has been interesting to see staff interact on a level playing field with the patients and the memories, stories and conversations started whilst working in a creative way. I think the output, over 400 2D works, 150+ magic lantern slides, and around 100 ceramic tiles says it all.

TESS SPRINGALL: It has been great working with the team and on the wards with patients. And yet it was a surreal experience for me to be doing workshops on the wards I was once locked up in.

LYNNE FIRMAGER: I’m rather a loner by nature, so working as part of a team has in itself been a very enjoyable learning curve. I think the four of us get on very well indeed and have a lot of fun at the same time.

MS: What have you learnt about the Graylingwell Hospital and its history that you were unaware of?

RJ: Much of the history was unknown to me. I don’t think I’d realised that the hospital had been so forward thinking at its beginning and that it was at the forefront of medical research for a long time. It is the stories of people’s personal experiences that have stayed with me - for many the hospital was a home and a haven, but for others their time at the hospital was not happy.

I think that it’s important that we don’t forget that part of it, that we don’t look at things through rose tinted spectacles.

LF: Not being local to the area, my knowledge of the Graylingwell site was very limited, but I did have considerable knowledge of the evolution of psychiatry, and its brutalities. Sadly, many cruelties were perpetrated in the name of medical progress.

KS: It hadn't occurred to me that it was a like a little village. The Greene sisters, who we met, lived at Graylingwell from 18 months old as daughters of the farm’s shepherd, and went on to work as nurses on the wards. Through them we discovered a rich tapestry of life. It was the snippets of everyday life, the trials, the tribulations, the joys and overall humanity that really entranced me.

TS: Yes, talking to the Greene sisters was really interesting and helped us to think of Graylingwell as more of a community. At the same time it was hard 36

learning about some of the treatments that the patients were given.

MS: What one object or story most struck you and why?

RJ: Whilst we were working on the wards there was a lot of discussion about the 'Grayling well'. Nobody currently has access to it, so there were many questions around where it was and if it still existed. One nurse told me that a patient had cleared the well one Christmas and recorded an oral history in which he described clearing the brambles from the well. I love that image. The well was the start of everything – the establishment of a settlement and the building of the hospital and all of the personal and political history that has sprung from the site since. The notion of someone clearing it seemed poignant and resonated with the ethos of this project – clearing the way for stories to flow.

TS: The story of Case Study No 2 stayed with me because of what she went through with her treatment.

A teacher who suffered a breakdown and was voluntarily put into psychiatric care by her family, this patient took part in art therapy but also underwent shocking medical treatment including insulin induced comas that left her with amnesia. She used art intensely to express herself, at times creating 24 paintings a week.

KS: If I had to pick an experience it would have to be creating art alongside the patients on the dementia ward at Harold Kidd, one of the NHS wards still on the Graylingwell site. It taught me that just because you have dementia doesn't mean you've lost your voice - you still have a creative voice.

LF: I find research fascinating so joining the Record Office and having access to the original records was a privilege. I think the story that has stuck with me the most was one about the nurse dropping the tray of false teeth.

Tragic, but also blackly funny in its way - there is a lot of black humour among us ex-patients I find!

MS: Tess, Kate and Lynne - you have been a part of the Outside In: Step Up programme here at the Gallery. Did this give you any useful tools or skills for this particular project?

TS: I would not have been able to help with the workshops without the training that Step Up gave me.

Helping the patients create their own art was an amazing experience.

KS: The training has given me skills to see past someone's disability or illness to see the person and support them to create art. Having mental health disabilities myself also helped support my peers who were fearful about not being an "artist". Without the Step Up programme, I would not have had the confidence or the

Clockwise from above: Cyanotype created by project participants working with the Pallant House Gallery creative team.

Magic lantern images created by project participants working with the Pallant House Gallery creative team.

Monoprint created by project participants working with the Pallant House Gallery creative team.

understanding to support, encourage, create and have a lot of fun and laughter during the art workshops.

LF: Outside In has given me the opportunity to re-engage with the professional art world after many years in the wilderness. I honestly believed that I would never achieve my dream of working in the field. I felt useless, talentless and washed up. Step Up gave me my confidence back and has provided me with so many opportunities, including being involved in this project.

MS: What do you think will be the legacy or long term impact of the project on the local community?

RJ: I think the project has allowed many people who have been connected with the hospital as patients, staff, or relatives, to have a voice and to tell their story. In many respects though it feels like the beginning – there are more and more things that could come from this.

LF: I hope that this project will leave a lasting reminder to the community that Graylingwell existed, even with all its faults, rather than for it to simply disappear into high end housing.

TS: For me, the legacy will undoubtedly be the artwork created by the patients and the creative team, and the final art that will be situated on site, bringing together all of the stories we have encountered.

KS: The legacy will be strong as it has been an integral part of Chichester for over 100 years. What has been amazing is how interweaved Graylingwell is in the overall community – it has not been "swept under the carpet" - many, many people came forward with items, stories and images of Graylingwell from 1897 to its closure, showing how important it was and still is to everyone, whether in a negative or positive way. I suspect that as the project gains publicity, more and more factual and personal history will come to light for years to come.

Therapeutic Endeavours? features work created by the creative team both collectively and individually in response to the project’s historical material as well as their own experiences of mental health. The exhibition is at Pallant House Gallery from 10 March – 19 April 2015. A concurrent exhibition at the University of Chichester’s Otter Gallery will juxtapose new art work with a snapshot of the collective memories, conversations and research documentation undertaken by all partners and the wider community. The project will conclude with a Project Showcase Event on 16 April at the Gallery, and on 17 April at the Graylingwell Chapel. For more information visit the Graylingwell Heritage Project visit www.graylingwellheritage.co.uk 37

INSIGHT: A COLLABORATIVE PROJECT

Insight is a collaborative project between Outside In and the University of Chichester which has seen two artists - an MA Fine Art student and an Outside In artist - meet weekly to explore art together, share skills and ultimately be creative. Before their exhibition at ArtOne at the University of Chichester in April, Editor Anna Zeuner catches up with all those involved to introduce the partnership, discuss the processes, and share some of the outcomes.

All images are collaborations by Paul Bellingham and Gemma Green

SHIRLEY CHUBB, READER IN INTERDISCIPLINARY ART AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICHESTER The sharing of knowledge, skills and life experiences is key to the MA Fine Art Programme at the University of Chichester. We understand the inherent value of professional experience alongside academic study.

Our Graduate On programme provides a platform to bring together students and graduates with employers, providing valuable work experience and development of skills and talents in local work places and communities.

MA Fine Art graduate Tanya Wood was given a Graduate On placement with a remit to build on existing links between the University and Pallant House Gallery with the project titled Insight. Tanya has worked on the design and development of the Insight partnership concept, which involved building and supporting the first artist partnership between MA Fine Art student Gemma Green and Outside In artist Paul Bellingham. The result has been a remarkably successful process with Gemma and Paul meeting and working together on a regular basis.

Together they have refined a series of works through a meticulous process of discussion and visual response, creating mutually reliant works as equal partners and exploring drawing, printmaking, painting and gallery visits together. The outcomes are truly collaborative, giving each artist an insight in to their respective working methods, aims and ambitions and showing how potential can be nurtured by sharing ideas and skills. We hope that this will be the first of a developing programme of partnerships in the future.

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TANYA WOOD, INSIGHT LIAISON AND DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT As the successful applicant of a Graduate On placement I was tasked with the role of assisting Jennifer Gilbert, the Outside In Manager, to develop a collaborative project by identifying partnership potential between an MA student and an artist in the Outside In programme.

The challenge was to structure and position the project within the existing programmes and curriculums of each organisation. The project and my role within it has been a process of evolution as discussions and events have taken place and has ended up being incredibly varied. It has involved researching potential developments, opportunities and funding; documenting the projects origins, context and aims; supporting, monitoring and encouraging the partnership, keeping others informed of developments; undertaking training; and negotiating, planning and helping to deliver exhibitions and events in the future.

Gemma and Paul worked collaboratively for three months with the common passion for art, building on similarities to achieve more than they could individually, their shared experience proving beneficial to both. It has been a privilege to witness the growth in both of them, achieved through their commitment, goodwill, honesty, great communication, respect and trust. I have enjoyed the opportunity to use knowledge and skills acquired and developed through my BA and MA study towards this important project. The experience has been and continues to be extremely insightful.

GEMMA GREEN, A SECOND YEAR MA FINE ART STUDENT, AND PAUL BELLINGHAM, AN OUTSIDE IN ARTIST The opportunity to work with another artist appealed and intrigued us both. A collaboration such as this

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presented space to discover, learn and develop as artists and within our individual professional practices.

Initially, there was a natural anticipation surrounding the partnership, but this trepidation was balanced with excitement. Despite fears of the unknown and an awareness of the expectations of all involved, we grounded our collaboration upon the commonalities between both our art practices. In the preliminary stages of the pairing, it was important to establish an understanding of each other’s working methods and interests, which subsequently fed into the remainder of the project. Both of us were intent on sharing a creative enquiry and were eager to make work together.

Working within this collaboration has been a stimulating and enriching experience. Not only has it been inspiring and influential to our own art practices, but it has taught us many valuable lessons about life and about the process of collaborating with others, including an understanding that certain rules and regulations have the power to inhibit creativity and the production of work. In addition, the variations in our backgrounds and education has been incredibly informative; the conversations that supplemented the working process have reaffirmed to us that every artist has a voice, regardless of their situation or credentials.

In this way, it also challenged both of our naiveties and preconceptions about other practitioners from formal and informal education. A successful collaboration depends upon both parties approaching the work with an open-mind and humility. Honesty leads to trust, while confidence and self-belief are gained through experience.

By adopting an attitude of spontaneity and playfulness, we have been cooperatively creating paintings, etchings and drawings as well as exploring Chichester city, the Cathedral and Pallant House Gallery. In the forthcoming exhibition, we will be showcasing the documentation of our experience, including sound recordings of our conversations and videos of the work in production.

Since this project is the first of its kind, we consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to pilot it. As is the nature of collaboration, it included a process of trial and error, experimentation and contemplation; yet it was these fundamental components of the relationship that were intrinsic. The experience has been invaluable and we are grateful to each other and to all involved for its facilitation. We hope that our insight will ensure others will have an opportunity to be involved in future projects.

JENNIFER GILBERT, OUTSIDE IN MANAGER Taking place between September and December 2014, the premise of the partnership was for each artist to be respected equally, for barriers to be broken down and for shared ways of thinking. Finished products or final pieces were not necessary – it was more about working through ideas, trying new techniques, collaborating and having fun.

It is hoped that a partnership will continue after this pilot with the prospect of another pairing next year.

The project has enabled an interesting and broader experience for the artists involved; bringing together art worlds whilst strengthening the bonds between establishments, their communities and the wider community.

Insight has been closely based on the Partners in Art scheme set up by Pallant House Gallery in 2002, which has a unique approach to creative partnerships. The project culminates in an exhibition from 23 – 26 March 2015 at ArtOne at the University of Chichester where the documentation and outcome of the project will be shared with visitors. Workshops, a seminar and discussions are being planned additionally. An account of the creative endeavours can be found on Gemma and Paul’s blog: www.insightsketchbook.wordpress.com 41

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ARTS AWARD: INSPIRING YOUNG PEOPLE Inspiring young people to explore their own creativity is a central focus of Pallant House Gallery’s Learning and Community Programme. Learning Programme Manager Natalie Franklin introduces the Gallery’s role as an Arts Award centre, and explains the new opportunities for the local community.

Pallant House Gallery’s learning programme has long been focused on encouraging young visitors between the ages of 13 and 18 to explore the Gallery and its collections, either independently or through its programme of activities. Since the founding of Creating Untitled in 2013, a group established by young people for young people, the number of 13-18 year olds accessing the Gallery has increased and group members have been involved in a range of creative based workshops and one-off summer events. It had its first exhibition in the Studio in April 2014 and feedback from members has been very encouraging.

This year, Creating Untitled is taking on a new Arts Award focus. A scheme managed by Trinity College London in association with Arts Council England, Arts Award’s unique qualifications support young people to develop as artists and arts leaders. Overseen by the South East Bridge Artswork, one of 10 regional Bridge organisations set up to implement the scheme, Arts Award has five levels, four of which are accredited on the QCF (Qualifications and Credit Framework). At Pallant House Gallery we are offering the opportunity to achieve the Bronze Art Award, which is a Level 1 national qualification.

The Gallery has recently become both an Arts Award centre and an Arts Award Supporter and the learning programme is now actively recruiting new members to join Creating Untitled: Arts Award A Creating Untitled workshop

(Bronze). With the help of an adviser, participants take part in a free arts activity they enjoy, go to an arts event, research their arts inspiration and share their skills with others. The idea is to work towards creating an Arts Award portfolio which could be a folder, sketchbook, video diary or a website – it’s entirely the participant’s choice. There are no entry requirements or set time limit for completing the Bronze Arts Award.

As an Arts Award Supporter, and through the newly formed Chichester Cultural Learning Partnership (CCLP) which includes five other cultural organisations in the local area (Chichester Cathedral, Chichester Festival Theatre, Fishbourne Roman Palace & Gardens, The Novium Museum and Weald & Downland Open Air Museum) Pallant House Gallery is hoping to support other groups, schools or youth services who are delivering the Arts Award but wish to work with external organisations to help deliver aspects of their own Award.

For further information and to add your details to our Creating Untitled email list, please contact Natalie Franklin, Learning Programme Manager n.franklin@ pallant.org.uk 01243 770839 or visit the website at www.pallant.org.uk.

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DRAWING THE NUDE Assistant Curator Katy Norris introduces ‘Drawing the Nude: From Manet to Auerbach’, an exhibition in the De’Longhi Print Room featuring works from the Pallant House Gallery collections.

Edouard Manet, Olympia, 1867, Etching and aquatint on paper, Pallant House Gallery (Wilson Loan, 2006) 44

Since the Renaissance the discipline of drawing in Western Art has been tied inextricably to achieving a particular representation of the human body based upon the classical ideal. It was only towards the end of the 1800s that the nude was freed from this academic convention, when artists sought to capture the nuances of a living body. In 1865 Édouard Manet shocked polite society when his painting Olympia was unveiled at the Paris Salon, featuring the prostitute Victorine Meurent.

In this work the sitter’s nakedness becomes the subject, her state of undress bought into sharp relief by the presence of her clothed servant. An etched version of Olympia published in defence of Manet’s art in 1868 reveals the enduring power of the painting and its impact on proceeding generations of artists.

Informed by the notoriety of Realism in France, the British artist Walter Sickert also took subjects from everyday life, finding models in the shabby tenements and backstreets of North London. In the related etching and drawing for his painting Jack Ashore (1912–13),

Sickert explores the tense dynamic between a clothed male and a naked female, the composition encouraging a voyeuristic engagement. The naked female figure lacks the pliancy and suppleness of classical sculpture rooting the image in what Sickert described as the ‘gross material facts’ of life rather than the academic ideal.

Though his treatment of the nude was deliberately provocative, Sickert’s drawing demonstrates a deep respect for draughtsmanship that was firmly established in the teaching practices of art schools in Britain. Under the direction of Henry Tonks during the early 1900s, pupils at the Slade School of Art followed a strict academic regime involving copying from plaster casts and lessons in rendering contours and shading. This tradition was inherited by William Coldstream in 1947 when he became a Professor at the Slade. Developing his own form of lyrical naturalism, Coldstream’s restrained style and painstaking measurement system is represented in the exhibition by his drawings of reclining and sleeping women. Such

precision and clarity of line is evident elsewhere in the work of RB Kitaj, Keith Vaughan and Peter de Francia, whose idiosyncratic interpretations of the human body were each supported by their strict adherence to drawing from life.

Perhaps more than any artist of his generation Frank Auerbach developed an expressive handling of the nude that was based upon a close understanding of his sitter. A series of etchings developed from life drawings made as a student shows how this intimacy was achieved through the act of drawing itself. In each image a different position is adopted to produce contrasting shapes and contours. Taken out of the context of the life drawing class, the inventiveness of Auerbach’s drawing can be fully understood and the series represents an important development in the autonomy of drawing that has continued into the 21st century.

Drawing the Nude: From Manet to Auerbach runs in the De’Longhi Print Room from 20 May – 19 July 2015.

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OBITUARY ANGUS HEWAT

Angus Hewat (3 June 1930 – 14 Dec 2014) was a Trustee of Pallant House Gallery for many years and the Deputy Chairman of the Friends. He was one of the Gallery’s major benefactors; he also gave and endowed the library. Angus’s funeral was held on 30 December 2014 in Slindon Church at which the following tribute was given, written by Stefan van Raay, former Director of the Gallery from 1997 to 2012.

“Angus could be slightly eccentric in an endearing manner, or maddening in his single-minded legal mood. He was intelligent and generous. He loved the arts, history, literature, horse racing and the garden at Sherborne House. He was a dear friend to many.

Pallant House Gallery would not exist as it does today without Angus's commitment. As Honorary Legal Advisor and Trustee of both the Gallery and the Friends he quietly and stubbornly dealt with the most complicated legal issues, one at a time and thoroughly measured. But that was not all.

He, with David Hopkinson and Simon Sainsbury, is the founding father of the extended Gallery. Through their equal and combined financial effort the land where the Gallery now rises was acquired. In difficult years when the gallery was closed for re-development, Angus supported the salaries of the employees, so nobody had to be laid off.

Much stimulated by Anne, who did not want any more books cluttering up their house, Angus laid the core foundation of the library at the Gallery. It truly is the Angus and Anne Hewat Library, but he did not want his generosity trumpeted through such a dedication.

Going through the Gallery and reading the labels carefully one will discover that works of art too were quietly donated by Angus. It has been such a pleasure to witness Angus enjoying the fruits of his efforts at Photograph by Anne-Katrin Purkiss

private views, lectures, recitals and going through the books, his books, in the library.

We should not forget that at the same time Angus was a Visitor at Ford Open Prison, collected financial contributions from the parishes to the Chichester Diocese and for years kept the Chichester Open Art Exhibition afloat. Many a performance at the Chichester Festival Theatre carried Angus and Anne's name.

Perhaps there are artists here today and they will remember Angus. He hardly ever left an exhibition without buying a work, often providing a lifeline in a precarious existence.

Every year and every day during Goodwood Race Week, Angus and Anne gave lunch to a crowd and at the end Angus went around with a handful of badges and politely asked 'Are you joining us at the race course?' with such modesty and gentleness. An unforgettable image.

When you say Angus, you also say Anne. Anne became as much part of the Pallant House Gallery family as Angus was. Certainly Angus would not have been so deeply involved in the gallery if Anne had not supported his enthusiasm and commitment.

We will miss the enchanting bickering of the two and the mild amusement in Angus's eyes after a pretty strong statement by Anne. Also, the tenderness of Anne in Angus' forgetful later days: 'Darling, you really like that soup, take it!'

Certainly we all - and foremost Anne, the children and the grandchildren - all so essential to Angus's life will enjoy remembering a slim man with a twinkle in his eyes, with a chuckle, a man who was intelligent, sometimes a little eccentric, a man who was generous and kind.

Angus was a good man, a dear friend, a true and gentle man.”

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17 February - 7 June

New exhibition

LIBERATING FASHION

Aesthetic Dress in Victorian Portraits One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art - Oscar Wilde

www.wattsgallery.org.uk G F Watts, Jane ‘Jeanie’ Elizabeth Nassau Senior c.1857-1858 Oil on Canvas Wightwick Manor, West Midlands

CHAIRMAN OF THE FRIENDS' LETTER

Firstly, may I wish you a very Happy New Year and say that I hope you will enjoy the exciting programme planned for 2015. In March the new exhibition, ‘Leon Underwood: Figure and Rhythm’, will open. This will be the first major museum retrospective in forty years of an artist described as ’the precursor of modern sculpture in Britain’. Please join us at the Friends’ Private View on Saturday, 7 March when Simon Martin, Artistic Director and curator of this exhibition, will be there to welcome you and give a short talk.

We were delighted to be the London Art Fair’s museum partner at the 2015 fair, where Pallant House Gallery exhibited key works from its permanent collection in an exhibition ‘The Figure in Modern British Art’. Our presence at the fair helped to raise our profile and it was lovely that so many people visited us there.

It is with great sadness that I must tell you that Angus Hewat, a former deputy Chairman of the Friends and a Trustee of the Gallery for many years, died on 14 December. Angus contributed hugely in every way to Pallant House Gallery, building up the Gallery’s Art Library into an important resource for all.

You can read a tribute to Angus, written by Stefan van Raay, former Director of the Gallery, on page 46.

In March, we say goodbye to Alan Thurlow, who has been a stalwart in arranging the Pallant Proms. These monthly recitals have grown greatly in popularity. We owe Alan, who has been a valued Trustee of the Friends for many years, our great thanks for all he has done over the years to establish these recitals as a popular

winter event at the Gallery. The last concert in the series will be by Natalia Sokolovskaya on March 28. We are not yet in a position to announce Alan’s successor but will, of course, keep you informed.

Stephen Hammett, Deputy Chairman, and Peter James, a valued volunteer, gave an Events Preview presentation in December at which we received some interesting feedback from Friends. The July trip to Saltwood Castle, which is not normally open to the public, will offer a rare opportunity to visit the home of Lord Clark and his son, the late Alan Clark, MP. The rest of the programme for the year has now been finalised and offers a varied and interesting selection of events and trips – we will keep you updated on forthcoming events via the monthly Friends eBulletin. Please do contact Mary Ambrose, in the Friends’ office, with any questions you may have about the programme.

As always, thank you for your continued support of Pallant House Gallery.

Lady Nicholas Gordon Lennox, Chairman of the Friends

Leon Underwood, King George VI, 1937, Chased bronze figure National Portrait Gallery – Given by the artist’s son, Garth Underwood, 1996 © The Estate of Leon Underwood

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WHAT’S ON FRIENDS’ EVENTS Find the rest of the public programme including workshops in the What's On guide or online at www.pallant.org.uk To book telephone 01243 774557

Our monthly Friends’ events bulletin is sent out the second Wednesday of each month.

If you have not already signed up for this, you can email the Friends’ Office Manager, Mary Ambrose at m.ambrose@pallant.org.uk who will be happy to subscribe you to the e-bulletin.

Friends Private View

Exhibition Tour

Leon Underwood: Figure and Rhythm Sat 7 March, 10–11 am The Friends’ Private View with a short talk by the exhibitions’ curator takes place on a Saturday, allowing Friends to see exhibitions before they open to the public.

All Friends are welcome at this special preview event. Due to the popularity of this event, please RSVP to Mary Ambrose at m.ambrose@pallant.org.uk.

Free (RSVP required) includes refreshments

Leon Underwood: Figure and Rhythm Weds 11 March, 11–12 noon Leon Underwood: Figure and Rhythm is the first museum retrospective of this influential artist in over forty years. A tour for Friends will be conducted by Gallery Guide Michaela Cranmer. £5.50 (£3 Student Friends) includes refreshments Booking required

Leon Underwood, Travellers, Mexico, c.1929–30, Oil on canvas, Private collection © The Estate of Leon Underwood

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Pallant House Gallery Friends

Events Hidden Treasures from the Print Room Tues 5 May, 11–12 am Join Katy Norris, Assistant Curator and Sarah Norris, Collections Manager in this presentation of works from the Gallery’s prints and drawings collection. Learn more about the organisation and curation of exhibitions in the De’Longhi Print Room and enjoy a private viewing of works from the forthcoming exhibition ‘Drawing the Nude: From Manet to Auerbach’. £6 (includes refreshments) Booking required

Art Views Fri 23 January Fri 27 March Fri 29 May 10.30am–12 noon Give yourself time to look at, interpret and discuss 5–6 artworks from the Gallery collections with other Friends. £3.50 (refreshments to follow in the Studio) Booking required De’Longhi Behind the Scenes Talk Thurs 4 June, 10.30–11.30 am The second of a series of talks

by Gallery staff to discover more about the inner workings of the Gallery. Simon Martin, Artistic Director of Pallant House Gallery, will share stories behind the curation of major exhibitions. £5.50 (£3 Student Friends) includes refreshments.

Booking required

Photograph courtesy of Hauser & Wirth

Visit Saltwood Castle Weds 1 July 2015 A rare opportunity to visit this Norman castle near Hythe in Kent, which was the home of Kenneth Clark and his son, the late Alan Clark, MP. The castle, built between the 12th and 14th centuries and presumed to be where four knights plotted the murder of Thomas à Becket in 1170, is not normally open to the public. A tour led by Jane Clark will take in a fascinating art collection including works by Sutherland, Degas, Piper, Grant and the natural history artist Raymond Booth as well as curiosities including a primitive mask used as a model by Picasso and heads by Henry Moore. The interior of the private gatehouse, the gardens, Lord Clark’s library and study and Alan Clark’s vintage car collection will also be explored. £69, to include return coach travel from Chichester, entry fee to the castle and cream tea. The group is limited to 15 people, so please book early to avoid disappointment.

To reserve a space, telephone Mary Ambrose: 01243770816

Tickets 01243 774557 (Booking Required)

Performance Hauser & Wirth Somerset, Bruton Tues 31 March 2015 A chance to visit Hauser & Wirth’s Somerset outpost, described as ‘a destination for experiencing art, architecture and the remarkable Somerset landscape through new and innovative exhibitions of contemporary art’. Swiss gallery owners Iwan and Manuela Wirth, who have premises in London, New York and Zurich, fell in love with Bruton a few years ago and restored an eighteenth-century farm. The visit will include a guided tour, lunch in the gallery’s Roth Bar & Grill, and the viewing of Four Seasons, an exhibition by the Chinese artist Zhang Enli. £57.50, including coach travel from and to Chichester and the guided tour. Please call Mary Ambrose on 01243770816 to reserve a space

Pallant Proms 28 Feb 2015, 12–1pm 28 March 2015, 12–1pm Our series of recitals by students from the Recital Class at the Royal College of Music. This season, Artur Haftman (Poland) will be performing pieces by Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Moszkowski, Szymanowski, and Liszt. Natalia Sokolovskaya (Russia) will be performing pieces by Mozart and Chopin.

Friends free (donations invited), non-Friends £5.50 For more information please check the Gallery website.

Tickets on sale at Reception.

Pallant House Gallery Friends

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Art Book Club Sunday afternoons, 2.30–4pm £5.50 for Friends (Friends of Friends £7.50) Tickets on sale at Reception Jonathan Smith: ‘Summer in February’ (1996) Sun 15 February When RA President Alfred Munnings criticises modern art, he finds himself taken back to his youth in the Cornish Art Community. Inspired by a true story, the novel explores the tragedy that follows.

Patrick Gale: ‘Notes from an Exhibition’ (2007) Sun 22 March Gifted artist Rachel Kelly is found dead by her husband in her Penzance Studio. She leaves behind some extraordinary new paintings.

Her Quaker husband appeals for information on the internet. Her life slowly comes to light, and it becomes clear that Rachel has left her children a gift for art.

Virginia Woolf: ‘To the Lighthouse’ (1927) Sun 19 April This novel is set in the Ramsays’ Summer home on the Isle of Skye. Many features from St. Ives Bay are worked into the story, including the gardens leading down to the sea itself.

Oscar Wilde: De Profundis and the Ballard of Reading Gaol (1905) Also Virginia Woolf’s Essay: ' Walter Sickert: A Conversation' Sun 17 May Anticipating the Gallery’s summer exhibition, ‘Sickert’s Dieppe: The Art of Modern Life’, we meet Oscar Wilde arriving in Dieppe with a draft of De Profundis. The English community, including Walter Sickert and his wife, have mixed feelings over his presence.

Ian Sansom: ‘The Norfolk Mystery’ (2013) Sun 21 June An Englishman returns from the Spanish Civil War in a state of emotional turmoil and takes a job with an eccentric writer producing a series of books on English Counties. It is full of architectural detail and is a very engaging murder mystery.

PATRONS OF THE GALLERY We are immensely grateful to the following Patrons of Pallant House Gallery, and to all those who wish to remain anonymous, for their generous support: Judy Addison Smith Keith Allison Lady Susan Anstruther John and Annoushka Ayton David and Elizabeth Benson Edward and Victoria Bonham Carter Vanessa Branson Ronnie and Margaret Brown Patrick K F Donlea Frank and Lorna Dunphy Lewis Golden Paul and Kay Goswell

Mr and Mrs Scott Greenhalgh Mr and Mrs Alan Hill Andrew Jones and Laura Hodgson James and Clare Kirkman Peter and Merle Lomas José and Michael Manser ra Keith and Deborah Mitchelson Robin Muir and Paul Lyon-Maris Angie O'Rourke Denise Patterson Simon and Harriet Patterson Catherine and Franck Petitgas

If you are interested in becoming a Patron of Pallant House Gallery please contact Elaine Bentley on 01243 770844 or e.bentley@pallant.org.uk

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Charles Rolls and Jans Ondaatje Rolls Mr and Mrs David Russell Sophie and David Shalit Tania Slowe and Paddy Walker John and Fiona Smythe Tim and Judith Wise John Young André Zlattinger

WHAT'S ON GALLERY EVENTS Find the complete public programme of talks, events and workshops in the What's On guide or online at www.pallant.org.uk To book telephone 01243 774557

TALKS All talks £10, Friends £8.50, Students £9 Leon Underwood: Modern Primitive Thurs 19 March, 6pm Throughout his career Leon Underwood’s work was rooted in the human figure. Curator of the exhibition Simon Martin explores the artist’s fascinating life and work, from his early paintings inspired by the First World War, to later sculptures and prints inspired by African tribal art and the artist’s travels in Mexico and West Africa. A book signing of the Leon Underwood: Figure and Rhythm catalogue, by Simon Martin with contributions from Ben Whitworth, Adrian Locke and Charlotte Stokes, will follow.

Wood Engraving in Britain: 1900 –1940: A Break with Tradition Thurs 26 March, 6pm Leon Underwood was a leading exponent of wood engraving together with his students Gertrude Hermes and Blair Hughes-Stanton, but they were only part of a wider revival of the medium in the early 20th century. Art historian Joanna Selborne, former Curator of Prints at the Courtauld Institute Gallery, will explore their work together with printmakers such as Eric Gill, Clare Leighton and Agnes Miller Parker.

Modern Architecture in Britain Thurs 23 April, 6pm To coincide with the De’Longhi Print Room exhibition on the architect Joseph Emberton who designed iconic buildings such as Simpsons in Piccadilly and the Blackpool Casino, the Director of The Twentieth Century Society Catherine Croft discusses the wider story of modern architecture in Britain from 1914 to the present. A book signing of ‘100 Buildings 100 Years’, available in the Pallant House Gallery Bookshop, will follow.

Significant Self: Modern Artists and Identity Thurs 30 April, 6pm To coincide with the exhibition British Self Portraits: Highlights from the Ruth Borchard Collection, artist and Slade School lecturer Liz Rideal discusses the expression of identity in the self-portraits of Francis Bacon, Robert Colquhoun, Lucian Freud, Anne Redpath, Michael Ayrton, Jean Cooke: famous and lesser known artists developing ideas and techniques for a modern world.

Leon Underwood and the Brook Green School Thurs 4 June, 6pm The artist Leon Underwood formed the radical Brook Green School of Drawing in 1921. Art Historian Charlotte Stokes explores the remarkable atmosphere of

the school, which led to innovative new approaches to life drawing and experimentation in wood engraving by students including Henry Moore, Eileen Agar, Gertrude Hermes and Blair Hughes Stanton.

Leon Underwood Sculpture Thurs 11 June, 6pm Leon Underwood has been described as the ‘precursor of modern sculpture in Britain.’ Ben Whitworth, author of the catalogue raisonée of Underwood’s sculpture, discusses the artist’s development as a sculptor through his approach to stone and wood carving, the influence of tribal art and his development of a unique philosophy of art.

PERFORMANCES Still Life: An Audience with Henrietta Moraes Thurs 28 May, 6pm and Sat 30 May, 3pm An extraordinary event from Sue MacLaine combining life drawing and performance, based on the life of Henrietta Moraes, a model and muse to Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, and Maggi Hambling.

Henrietta, with characteristic wit and candour, tells stories from her life and re-creates poses from her illustrious career. Through the performance the line between subject and object, artist and model is blurred, influencing the dynamic relationship between audience and performer. The performance lasts 65 minutes, including periods of drawing. Easels and drawing boards will be provided. £20 53

WHAT'S ON GALLERY EVENTS Find the complete public programme of talks, events and workshops in the What's On guide or online at www.pallant.org.uk To book telephone 01243 774557

Kirker Holidays Summer Concert Tues, 23 June, 6.45pm Organised by Kirker Holidays, this summer concert presents BBC Radio 3 Young Generation Artist Louis Schwizgebel performing music by Schuman, Ravel, Beethoven and Schubert. £15 (a donation will be made to the Pallant House Gallery Catalyst Endowment Fund) Pallant Festival Concert: Victor Ryabchikov (Piano) Sat 20 June, 12pm Acclaimed international pianist Victor Ryabchikov brings his exquisite touch to the Festival of Chichester with a delightful programme of nocturnes by Chopin, Field, Balakirev and Glinka.

Victor has enchanted audiences with his magical playing from the Peterhoff Great Palace in St. Petersburg to London’s Wigmore Hall. Sponsored by Freegull and Rose. £12.50, Friends £11.50

SPECIAL EVENTS Pallant House Gallery Open Weekend Sat 25-Sun 26 April A special opportunity to visit the entire Gallery for free. Take part in creative activities for children and adults linked to the current exhibition programme, learn 54

about the Gallery’s collection via spotlight tours, and find out more about the Learning and Community programme, Gallery projects including Outside In, and the many ways you can engage with all the Gallery has the offer.

There will be special promotions in the Pallant House Gallery Bookshop and The Pallant Kitchen. Free Museums at Night Thurs 14 May, 6pm – 10.30pm A late night opening with Gallerywide activities based around the theme of the body to tie in with the Leon Underwood: Figure and Rhythm and Drawing the Nude exhibitions, with one off experiences including life drawing and interpretative performance.

Special dining options in The Pallant Kitchen with music in the courtyard will make for an unmissable evening at the Gallery. Look out for further details via the Gallery eBulletin, website and Facebook page. Free Toovey’s Fine Art, Antiques and Collectables Valuation Afternoon Mon 11 May, 1-5pm at the Gallery Toovey’s specialists will be on hand to offer free valuations and advice.

A third of the sellers’ commission for items subsequently auctioned at Toovey’s will be donated to Pallant House Gallery. Free

EXHIBITION TOURS Tours £5.50, Students £3, plus admission Leon Underwood: Figure and Rhythm Thurs 2 April, 6pm Sat 23 May, 3pm Gallery Guide Michaela Cranmer explores Leon Underwood’s wide-ranging body of work that includes sculpture, life drawing, painting and printmaking, focusing on his treatment of the figure, the influence of tribal art, and his role as teacher of key artists such as Henry Moore and Eileen Agar.

British Self-Portraits: Highlights from the Ruth Borchard Collection Sat 21 March, 3pm Gallery Guide Liz Walker explores the fascinating stories behind Ruth Borchard’s collection of British self-portraits which features artists such as Michael Ayrton, Ithell Colquhoun, Jean Cooke, Peter Phillips and David Tindle.

GALLERY TOURS very Sat and Sun, 2pm E A half-hour guided tour providing fascinating insights into our collections and displays. Whether exploring themes such as portraits or landscape, or telling the stories behind particular artworks, each week is different. Free with admission, meet at Reception.

BOOKING FORM Please print and check all details carefully. Incomplete forms and incorrect details will delay the processing procedure.

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YOUR LEGACY TO ART

Advert If you have been inspired by Pallant House Gallery, why not consider leaving a legacy in your Will? A gift, however small, will help us maintain our pioneering Community work, innovative exhibition programmes and help conserve the Collections for future generations to enjoy. Thanks to a new government initiative, by leaving at least 10% of your estate to charity, the rate of Inheritance Tax applicable to the rest of your estate is reduced to 36%. Therefore, by giving to Pallant House Gallery you could benefit your beneficiaries as well.

All legacies are paid into the Gallery’s endowment fund which, until 30 June 2016, will be matched pound for pound with a grant from the HLF Catalyst Endowment Fund. To discuss leaving a legacy to Pallant House Gallery, please contact Elaine Bentley, Head of Development (01243 770844 / e.bentley@pallant.org.uk).

Thank you.

Paul Catherall, Pallant, 2006, Linocut on paper, Courtesy of the artist, Š Paul Catherall

BOOKSHOP All books are available to buy online at our website www.pallantbookshop.com To keep up to date with our newest Titles, offers and exhibition books and products, sign up to our mailing list in store or on our website.

Telephone 01243 781293

The Wood-Engravings of Gertrude Hermes

by Judith Russell Written by the artist’s daughter, this book explores Gertrude Hermes work as a wood-engraver and her influences including artists such as Brancusi, GaudierBrzeska and Leon Underwood, the tensions in her own life, and the natural world about her (plant forms, fishes, birds). Featuring 170 illustrations reproduced in a large format. Special Exhibition Price £70

Leon Underwood: Figure and Rhythm Edited by Simon Martin with contributions from Adrian Locke, Charlotte Stokes and Ben Whitworth The extensively illustrated exhibition catalogue brings together Underwood’s sculpture, etchings, woodengravings and linocuts into one volume, including previously unpublished works. Published by Pallant House Gallery and available exclusively from the Gallery Bookshop. £19.95

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The Sculpture of Leon Underwood

by Ben Whitworth Addressing the key stages in Underwood’s development as a sculptor, Ben Whitworth unravels the motivations and inspirations that guided the artist’s career. Aiming to re-establish Underwood as a serious contributor to British twentieth-century sculpture and to stimulate greater awareness of the complexity of British modernism, this book is essential reading.

Special Exhibition Price, Was £35, Now £17.50

Limited Edition Peter Iden Prints Peter Iden (1945–2012) was the definitive modern painter of the South Downs, the landscape which surrounded him throughout his life. Pallant Gallery Bookshop is now stocking new Gicleè Prints of his stunning Downs paintings. Each from a Limited Edition of 250. £85

Emberton by Rosemary Ind This first full study of Joseph Emberton, one of the most distinctive British Architects of the twentieth Century, traces the development of his career through a detailed discussion of his buildings including the Empire Hall at Olympia, The HMV Shop in Oxford Street and the Pleasure Beach and Casino at Blackpool. TBC

Face to Face by Philip Vann A detailed examination of 100 British self-portraits in the remarkable Ruth Borchard collection, featuring examples by Francis Bacon, Gwen John, John Minton, Walter Sickert, Stanley Spencer, Christopher Wood and other major twentieth-century figures. £45

Natures Powers & Spells The Bookshop would like to thank all our customers who supported St. Wilfrid’s Hospice by buying our Carry Akroyd Christmas Card. Following the popularity of her Christmas Card, Signed copies of Carry’s latest book ‘Natures Powers & Spells’ are available now. £38

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Artwork in Focus: Sunflowers, 1961

by Peter Coker

A powerful realist painter, Peter Coker began showing his work professionally in 1956 and was often associated by critics with the so-called Kitchen Sink School of social realism. He pursued a very successful career, being elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1965 and a full member in 1972. Principally known for his inventive and expressive landscapes, Coker also painted the figure, made fabric designs and was a consummate etcher. He died in 2004.

After leaving the Royal College in 1954, Coker embarked on a series of vigorous still-life paintings of meat and dead animals. Coker was interested in making paintings which echoed and emulated the raw facts of his subjects – and which had a potent physicality of their own. Texture is of the utmost importance: the extreme tactility of surface in Coker’s pictures accounts for at least half their effect. The other half is down to effective drawing and pictorial design. From 1956, his work became more landscape-based, and he gave up still-life painting.

As a subject, sunflowers occupy an interesting middle ground. Too large to make a tidy flower arrangement, they resemble more a growing bush, thus effectively combining studio and outdoor compositions. Coker made only three oil paintings of sunflowers, the first one dating from 1958-9, one from 1960 and then a final one from 1961 (in the Pallant House Gallery collection). Coker also made a number of drawings and studies of sunflowers, mostly in black chalk and charcoal. It seems that he began planting sunflowers in his garden in 1958, and continued to grow them for the following two or three years. Never one to neglect a good subject in front of him, first of all drew, and then painted these sunflowers.

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Peter Coker, Sunflowers, Oil on board, 1961, Pallant House Gallery (Bequest of Mrs Vera Coker in memory of Peter Coker, 2014), © Estate of Peter Coker

The first sunflower painting was exhibited at Coker’s 1959 solo show at the Zwemmer Gallery in London.

Coker seems to have worked directly from the subject in this painting, though it is evident from a close examination of the surface that however spontaneous the paint may appear, it was built up with extreme care and attention over a period of time. Here Coker draws brilliantly with the paint, using a palette knife to direct and control the slabs of pigmented matter. This painting has an intensely physical presence, the heavy impasto standing proud of the board to which it has been applied, and yet, at the same time, bonding with its background to make a powerful image in shallow relief.

Careful scrutiny of the surface suggests that Coker used some white lead to add weight to the paint, to enhance its material quality. This use of impasto may seem to contradict the lightness of the subject depicted – the petals and leaves of a flower – but the intention was to make a convincing equivalent, not a copy.

This article is an abridged version of an essay by Andrew Lambirth published in 2012. Peter Coker’s Sunflowers, 1961, is the Artwork of the Month in March.

Join a workshop and talk on 25 March 2015.

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Leicester Engineering, 1963

High and Over, Amersham, 1930

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De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill, 1935

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HOUSE 2015: ‘Edge and Shift’ 2-24 May 2015, various venues across Brighton

For 2015, HOUSE is commissioning fantastic new works from five artists, including Turner nomineee Nathan Coley.

Also included in this year’s programme, Outside In at Phoenix Brighton.

Nathan Coley, You Imagine What You Desire, 2014, Illuminated text on scaffolding, photo by Keith Hunter

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PRINtS aNd MUltIPlES

Wednesday 4 March 2015 Knightsbridge, London

CHRIStOPHER RICHaRd WYNNE NEVINSON (BRItISH, 1889-1946) (From) A Paris Window Etching and drypoint, 1922, signed in pencil, 201 x 152mm (PL) £2,000 - 3,000

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