Four years ago, I came across two art works, signed 'Bruce Taylor' and dated 1956, at a 'brocante', in the South of France: a small 'abstract' oil painting and an unusual ceramic dish decorated with a contemporary wax-resist 'camouflage' glaze; quite different from the studio ceramics made in the UK at the time.
Both works displayed some characteristics of British art from the 1950s, but did not look derivative of the work of any artist I knew:
The shape and the glaze pattern of the dish gave it a biomorphic appearance quite distinct from the Asia-inspired forms of Bernard Leach's works, who set the ceramic agenda in St Ives and beyond.
The person who was selling it informed me that Bruce Taylor was a British artist who had lived in her village, where he had died in 1989.
Following the death of his third wife, in 2010, the heirs (the nephew and niece of his third wife), who were not interested in Taylor's works, took what they wanted and left the studio content to be sold for a local cancer charity.
When the house was sold, the large plan chest in which Taylor had kept his work on paper — paintings, drawings, prints and photographs — disappeared; probably skipped.
The large Constructivist relief scupture that stood on the facade of the house was taken down by the new owner during building work, but has not been re-instated.
Two more sculpture remains in the village, in public ownership. One, that can be identified as Eclipse 2 (1966); the other, Thunderstick (1965). Both were included in his solo show at Arnolfini, in 1966. Both were bequeathed to the village by his third wife, in memory of the artist.
Mistaken for a cross, Thunderstick has since been permanently fitted in the vilage church. It is ironical that the work of an agnostic should now feature as a religious symbol in a church, as a result of a naive misappropriation. THe chances of re-appropriating it, however, are very slight.
The tragic loss of the plan chest makes the few works that have survived — sculptures, a painting, drawings, ceramics, photographs and a remarkable photomontage —all the more important as representative of the artist's concerns and of his discrete approach to Modernism, more closely related to the art produced on the Cotinent than in America. Taylor's drawings, in particular, show an affinity with Tachisme, that he was made aware of by publication and by a lecture given by Herbert Read to the members of the Penwith Society. Taylor combined an interest in Tachisme with a refusal of the dualism 'Abstraction-Figuration' in absolute terms, inherited from claims made by some American artists and critics, arging that art could be 'non-referential'.
Taylor seems to have shared Elaine De Kooning's view that ''The exclusion or inclusion of nature is, however, not a matter of the individual artist's choice. For art, nature is unavoidable'.
Alongside a few works owned by family members, the works retrieved from his studio constitute a coherent body of works representative of the quality and variety of his life work.
Aware that these works were going to be scattered on the market, and forever separated, I acquired them, with the intention to exhume the artist's career and write it back into the history of St Ives and of British Modernism.
The web revealed that a sculpture by Taylor had been sold by the Paisnel Gallery in London, who had acquired it from the Belgrave Gallery:
A short truncated biographical note on the gallery web site read:
'Born in Yorkshire. He studied at Bath Academy of Art. Taught in Hertfordshire and in the late 50's in Cornwall. He lived in St Ives and worked in welded sculpture. He was a member of the Penwith Society and became chairman in 1957. Exhibited in m…'.
During a visit to the gallery, I was informed that this sculpture was the only work that the gallery had ever come across by this artist.
THE NEXT STEP required finding out how, why and in what circumstances Taylor left a promising career as an artist and moved to the South of France to start a new life.
This required locating works and people who had known him.
Both works displayed some characteristics of British art from the 1950s, but did not look derivative of the work of any artist I knew:
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| Bruce Taylor, Dish, earthenware. 1956. |
The shape and the glaze pattern of the dish gave it a biomorphic appearance quite distinct from the Asia-inspired forms of Bernard Leach's works, who set the ceramic agenda in St Ives and beyond.
* * *
In 2013, I came across and acquired a third piece by Taylor: an 'abstract' ink drawing (below), signed and dated 1959.
The person who was selling it informed me that Bruce Taylor was a British artist who had lived in her village, where he had died in 1989.
Following the death of his third wife, in 2010, the heirs (the nephew and niece of his third wife), who were not interested in Taylor's works, took what they wanted and left the studio content to be sold for a local cancer charity.
When the house was sold, the large plan chest in which Taylor had kept his work on paper — paintings, drawings, prints and photographs — disappeared; probably skipped.
The large Constructivist relief scupture that stood on the facade of the house was taken down by the new owner during building work, but has not been re-instated.
Two more sculpture remains in the village, in public ownership. One, that can be identified as Eclipse 2 (1966); the other, Thunderstick (1965). Both were included in his solo show at Arnolfini, in 1966. Both were bequeathed to the village by his third wife, in memory of the artist.
Mistaken for a cross, Thunderstick has since been permanently fitted in the vilage church. It is ironical that the work of an agnostic should now feature as a religious symbol in a church, as a result of a naive misappropriation. THe chances of re-appropriating it, however, are very slight.
The tragic loss of the plan chest makes the few works that have survived — sculptures, a painting, drawings, ceramics, photographs and a remarkable photomontage —all the more important as representative of the artist's concerns and of his discrete approach to Modernism, more closely related to the art produced on the Cotinent than in America. Taylor's drawings, in particular, show an affinity with Tachisme, that he was made aware of by publication and by a lecture given by Herbert Read to the members of the Penwith Society. Taylor combined an interest in Tachisme with a refusal of the dualism 'Abstraction-Figuration' in absolute terms, inherited from claims made by some American artists and critics, arging that art could be 'non-referential'.
Taylor seems to have shared Elaine De Kooning's view that ''The exclusion or inclusion of nature is, however, not a matter of the individual artist's choice. For art, nature is unavoidable'.
Alongside a few works owned by family members, the works retrieved from his studio constitute a coherent body of works representative of the quality and variety of his life work.
Aware that these works were going to be scattered on the market, and forever separated, I acquired them, with the intention to exhume the artist's career and write it back into the history of St Ives and of British Modernism.
The web revealed that a sculpture by Taylor had been sold by the Paisnel Gallery in London, who had acquired it from the Belgrave Gallery:
 |
| Bruce Taylor, May Bug, Welded steel. 1958. |
A short truncated biographical note on the gallery web site read:
'Born in Yorkshire. He studied at Bath Academy of Art. Taught in Hertfordshire and in the late 50's in Cornwall. He lived in St Ives and worked in welded sculpture. He was a member of the Penwith Society and became chairman in 1957. Exhibited in m…'.
During a visit to the gallery, I was informed that this sculpture was the only work that the gallery had ever come across by this artist.
David Buckman's dictionary of 'Artists in Britain', published by the Goldmark Gallery (01572821424), available on line at [http://issuu.com/powershift/docs/dictionary_t], the only published source of information about Taylor, seemed to have been the source.
It was used by the Belgrave Gallery, London, in the catalogue of their exhibitionin which Taylor's sculpture May bug was sold to the Paisnel Gallery.
It reads:
'Bruce Taylor (1921-) - Sculptor and teacher, born in Yorkshire, who studied at Bath Academy of Art, Corsham. He taught in Hertfordshire, then in Cornwall, living in St Ives. Was a member of the Penwith Society, becoming chairman in 1957. Showed in many mixed exhibitions in Britain and abroad, including 19 Young Sculptors, Hillfield Gardens, Gloucester, 1962,when he was resident at Pitchcombe, Stroud. Had a solo exhibition at Drian Gallery, 1958. Taylor had work in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Leicester Education Authority. He was featured in Belgrave Gallery's 1992 show of British abstract art of the 50s and 60s'.
This confirmed that Taylor's art was worth investigating.
RESEARCH:
In the St Ives archive I started compiling a list of works exhibited by Taylor, from the exhibition catalogues of the Penwith Society of Art.
Other exhibition catalogues obtained from antiquarian book-sellers, or consulted in public libraries revealed that Taylor had exhibited
twice at the Drian Gallery, London, in 1958 (a group and a solo show),
a sculpture in 1962 at the Artist International Association, London;
four works at 'Sculpture Today': Midland Group Gallery, Nottingham: 18.8-8.9.62
and twice at Arnolfini, in Bristol (1963: group show and 1966: solo show).
RESEARCH:
In the St Ives archive I started compiling a list of works exhibited by Taylor, from the exhibition catalogues of the Penwith Society of Art.
Other exhibition catalogues obtained from antiquarian book-sellers, or consulted in public libraries revealed that Taylor had exhibited
twice at the Drian Gallery, London, in 1958 (a group and a solo show),
a sculpture in 1962 at the Artist International Association, London;
four works at 'Sculpture Today': Midland Group Gallery, Nottingham: 18.8-8.9.62
Counter Thrust, Bronze (£195)
Moonstone, Bronze (£48)
Sea Foam, Drawing (£21),
Seventh Samurai, Drawing (£21)and twice at Arnolfini, in Bristol (1963: group show and 1966: solo show).
The St Ives Times & Echo, that covered the arts provided some useful information about Taylor's involvement in the activities of the Penwith Society, his involvement in organizing exhibitions and his role in presenting the St Ives artistic scene for two BBC documentaries about the arts in St Ives.
Taylor showing visitors at the Penwith Galley
The minutes of the Penwith Society's meeting — preserved in the archives of the Penwith Society — reveal the extent of Taylor's active participation in the activities of the Society and the issues it had to address.
The last document in the St Ives archive that shows Taylor in St Ives is a photograph showing him alongside Bernard Leach at the opening of an exhibition of children art at the Penwith Society gallery. It was published in The St Ives Times and Echo of 3rd March 1967. By then, Taylor had moved to Grantham, LIncolnshire, and must have travelled down to St Ives especially for this event:
THE NEXT STEP required finding out how, why and in what circumstances Taylor left a promising career as an artist and moved to the South of France to start a new life.
This required locating works and people who had known him.
This was critical, for an internet search for auction sales returned the result 'No auction results available for Bruce TAYLOR'.
In 2015, during a three months research visit to Pyrénées Orientales, funded by Arts Council, England, I met an artist friend of Bruce and Judy Taylor, who provided invaluable background information about Taylor's work, his ideas, his character and how he earned a living by making ceramics.
Pat Rowland nor any of her friends, had any works by Taylor, however.
It would seem that some of the sculptures and ceramic pieces that Taylor had displayed in his open air showroom, and that can be seen on photographs, were sold and scattered across Europe, with little hope of ever been traced.
During that visit I sourced, and acquired a large drawing, exhibited at Arnolfini, in 1963; that Taylor kept on his living room wall, and was given by his wife to a friend, after Taylor's death. The drawing miraculously re-surfaced, during my visit, and I was able to buy it and have it professionally restored.
Back in England, I located two more works by Taylor — two drawings — and learnt about the recent destruction of a plaster sculpture that had been left outside, unprotected from the elements, in the owner's garden.
Various calls fo information via the local press in St Ives, via on-line resources and art magazines put me in contact with pupils whom he taught, with one of Taylor's daughter from his second mariage and, later, via the blog I compiled, with his son from a first mariage.
The fragmentation of Taylor's life had led him to live three separate — partitionned — lives, in different locations, quite separate from eachother. This made it more difficult to establish key facts about his life and work before he decided to study art and become an artist, and after he parted company with the British art scene to attempt a new life experiment abroad.
In 2015, during a three months research visit to Pyrénées Orientales, funded by Arts Council, England, I met an artist friend of Bruce and Judy Taylor, who provided invaluable background information about Taylor's work, his ideas, his character and how he earned a living by making ceramics.
Pat Rowland nor any of her friends, had any works by Taylor, however.
It would seem that some of the sculptures and ceramic pieces that Taylor had displayed in his open air showroom, and that can be seen on photographs, were sold and scattered across Europe, with little hope of ever been traced.
During that visit I sourced, and acquired a large drawing, exhibited at Arnolfini, in 1963; that Taylor kept on his living room wall, and was given by his wife to a friend, after Taylor's death. The drawing miraculously re-surfaced, during my visit, and I was able to buy it and have it professionally restored.
Back in England, I located two more works by Taylor — two drawings — and learnt about the recent destruction of a plaster sculpture that had been left outside, unprotected from the elements, in the owner's garden.
Various calls fo information via the local press in St Ives, via on-line resources and art magazines put me in contact with pupils whom he taught, with one of Taylor's daughter from his second mariage and, later, via the blog I compiled, with his son from a first mariage.
The fragmentation of Taylor's life had led him to live three separate — partitionned — lives, in different locations, quite separate from eachother. This made it more difficult to establish key facts about his life and work before he decided to study art and become an artist, and after he parted company with the British art scene to attempt a new life experiment abroad.
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