We are delighted to share that, for the first time, we have been able to acquire two original mixed media paintings by the legendary Victor Pasmore. A pioneer of abstract art in Britain during the 1940s and 50s, his work has enjoyed a huge resurgence of interest in recent years and his prints are very highly sought after.
The first of these paintings is a study for an etching that Pasmore produced in 1992:
Idea for Desert Sand, 1992
Painting mounted on wood over a second wooden board lined with Japon paper with two painted dots
In 1966 Pasmore relocated to Malta. The light and landscapes of his new home soon began to influence the aesthetic of his work. His geometry softened, his colours brightened, and his lines and edges began to curve and wander. It's too simplistic however to claim that the artist was merely producing abstracted versions of the island's topography. Pasmore was too sophisticated for that. He once stated: 'What I have done is not the process of abstraction from nature but a method of constructing from within'.
We can say that much of Pasmore's work is based on processes rather than the effects and causes of nature. Despite its title this piece is not a stylised landscape painting. The physical process of creating the image, the structure of it and the physicality of the materials used are of primary importance and generate their own reality. Very often the line between painting and sculpture is blurred. Idea for Desert Sand expresses these qualities beautifully. A complex construction of wood, paper and paint, it captures the essence of what made Pasmore so revolutionary. To quote Pasmore again: '[This] meant changing the process of painting from one of visual abstraction to that of intrinsic and organic construction'.
Pasmore often included his initials as a visual element in his compositions during the 90s. In 1993 he explicitly connected this with the personal nature of his work, stating: ‘I’m an emotional painter...I always sign my work VP because actually that’s the whole content: me. Otherwise it’s just paint'.
Our second original painting by Victor Pasmore is the beautifully lyrical:
Idea for Davide, 1990
Painting mounted on wood over a second wooden board with a painted dot. Signed with initials VP in paint in the centre of the painting
This piece shares similarities with the screenprint Untitled 11 (lime-green), made in a limited edition of 30 in 1991. It was made at 2RC Edizioni d'Arte, Rome, the printmaking studio where Pasmore spent a lot of time working out ideas for his prints. Although this painting does not relate to a specific print in the same way as the other study we've acquired, it shows the general direction of Pasmore's graphic work at this point in his career and again demonstrates the way his different artistic techniques fed into each other.
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