Victor Pasmore: From Constructions to Spray Paint at The New Art Centre, Roche Court 2011
Victor Pasmore: From Constructions to Spray Paint 12 November 2011 - 29 January 2012
Victor Pasmore: From Constructions to Spray Paint
In the Gallery and Artists' House
Victor Pasmore (1908-98) was a major figure in the revival of Constructivism in Britain following World War II. He believed that all art was derived from nature, but specifically from its underlying structure rather than its surface appearance. His abstract work, often in collage and construction reliefs, pioneered the use of new materials and was sometimes on a large architectural scale. Herbert Read described the development of Pasmore's style as 'the most revolutionary event in post-war British art'.
Victor Pasmore: From Constructions to Spray Paint brings together key pieces from the most important decades of Pasmore's career. His constructed reliefs from the 1960s are amongst his most familiar geometric works in which Pasmore combined ideas of growth and harmony in three dimensions. These will be shown with essentially two-dimensional works combining fine lines and broader bands of colour. In later years, Pasmore returned to a more poetic style of painting, in which colour and organic forms dominated and his subsequent use of spray paint gave an immediate rhythm and movement, which replaced the rigour of his more static compositions.
Victor Pasmore was born in Chelsham, Surrey. Whilst working for the London County Council he studied painting part-time at the Central School and developed a lyrical, figurative style; early support from Sir Kenneth Clark allowed Pasmore to concentrate on his artistic career. By 1948 Pasmore developed a purely abstract style having been influenced initially by British artists such as Nicholson and others associated with Circle, but also the international exhibitions he saw in London of works by Picasso and Klee.
Pasmore became a leading figure in the reform of the fine art education system. The course he founded called 'The Developing Process' was inspired by the Bauhaus movement and became the model adopted for higher arts education across the UK. Pasmore designed a mural for the Festival of Britain and was involved in This is Tomorrow, the seminal exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1957. He participated in documenta II in 1959 and represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1960 and again at the São Paulo Bienal in 1965, the same year as his retrospective at Tate. Pasmore was appointed Consulting Director of Urban Design for Peterlee, County Durham in 1954; the 'Pavilion' he designed there in 1970, has been restored recently and is highly regarded as a synthesis of Pasmore's interests in architecture, sculpture and painting. Pasmore was a Royal Academician, a C.B.E. and a Companion of Honour.
New Art Centre
The New Art Centre was founded in 1958. The original gallery was located in Sloane Street, London. In 1994 it was relocated to Roche Court in Wiltshire, a nineteenth-century house in parkland. The existing house and Orangery were built in 1804. Together with the grounds, Roche Court is now used as a sculpture park and educational centre where work is shown inside and out providing a survey of sculpture for the enjoyment of the public. The New Art Centre represents various artists' estates including Barbara Hepworth, Kenneth Armitage and Ian Stephenson. The gallery is the venue for a changing programme of exhibitions. All works are for sale and the New Art Centre exhibits annually at the Basel Art Fair.
Gallery at Roche Court
The gallery at Roche Court, designed by architect Stephen Marshall, opened in autumn 1998. It has proved to be a perfect addition to the park and has won six architectural awards including the RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize for best small building.
Artists' House at Roche Court
Following the success of the award-winning gallery, the New Art Centre commissioned Stephen Marshall to design a small contemporary house situated in a courtyard at Roche Court. We have taken as our model Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, one of the most inspiring small museums in the world. The aim is to provide a space for the display of domestic scale works of art.
The Artists' House can be viewed by appointment.
The Roche Court Educational Trust
The Trust was founded in 2005 and grew out of our education programme, which was launched in 2001 as the result of a growing demand to experience contemporary sculpture first hand. Responding to the educational needs of our audience, we have evolved a variety of opportunities for both teachers and students. Our education programme connects internationally acclaimed artists with teachers and art students and is aimed at encouraging an increasing number of people of every age to enjoy, appreciate and understand the sculpture at Roche Court as part of their cultural heritage.
Related video:
Victor Pasmore - Signed Original Prints
The Colour Wheel
Tōru Takemitsu - Garden Rain
Lejaren Hiller: Sonata per violino e pianoforte No.3 (1970)
Lejaren Hiller: Twelve-tone Variations (1954)
Giuseppe Sinopoli: Numquid (1972)
Artist Teacher MEd Launch Event
Bernd Alois Zimmermann/Manfred Schoof: Improvvisations on "Die Soldaten" (1967)
Enrico Correggia: Samek (1983)
Enrico Correggia: Sihn (1985)
Goffredo Petrassi: Dialogo angelico, per due flauti (1948)
Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Die Befriesteten (1967)
Enrico Correggia: Mohn und Gedaechtnis (1983/1984)
Lejaren Hiller: Algorithm I (Versioni I & IV) (1968)
Lejaren Hiller: Machine Music (1964)