Most of the works in this exhibition come from Taylor's studio, in Taulis.
They were acquired at a sale for a cancer charity, after the death of the artist's third wife and heir, Judy.
These works were of special significance to the artist. He took them to France, when he moved there, in 1968, and kept them all his life; displaying them in his successive homes, like talismans of his artistic life in St Ives.
Given the comparatively short period in which they were made (1956-65), in St Ives, they have the quality of a 'time capsule'.
Three early silk-screen prints have been lent by family members.
Since Taylor's paintings and drawings seems to have been skipped after the death of his third wife, these prints enable us to get a fuller measure of his Tachiste experiments around 1957-8, in conjunction with the testimony of one of his students.
A sculpture from his first solo show in London, 'May-bug', originally bought by the Belgrave Gallery, is loaned by a private collector.
Since there is no record of works by Taylor ever sold at auction we have to conclude that the works that he sold, either privately or through exhibitions, during his lifetime, are still in private hands: in the UK, France and elsewhere. They will no doubt re-surface as Taylor's name and reputation rise.
A close examination of exhibition catalogues suggests that Taylor produced a small oeuvre. His conviction that 'the act of making the image is more important than the object created', combined with the the fact that he did not have a permanent contract with a gallery, and earned his living as a teacher, enabled him to produce experimental works and avoid commercial duplication. This explain both the variety and the small number of works he produced.
They were acquired at a sale for a cancer charity, after the death of the artist's third wife and heir, Judy.
These works were of special significance to the artist. He took them to France, when he moved there, in 1968, and kept them all his life; displaying them in his successive homes, like talismans of his artistic life in St Ives.
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| From left to right: Thunderstick, Warrior II, Sentinel photographed at Mas de Fourtou. |
Three early silk-screen prints have been lent by family members.
Since Taylor's paintings and drawings seems to have been skipped after the death of his third wife, these prints enable us to get a fuller measure of his Tachiste experiments around 1957-8, in conjunction with the testimony of one of his students.
A sculpture from his first solo show in London, 'May-bug', originally bought by the Belgrave Gallery, is loaned by a private collector.
Since there is no record of works by Taylor ever sold at auction we have to conclude that the works that he sold, either privately or through exhibitions, during his lifetime, are still in private hands: in the UK, France and elsewhere. They will no doubt re-surface as Taylor's name and reputation rise.
A close examination of exhibition catalogues suggests that Taylor produced a small oeuvre. His conviction that 'the act of making the image is more important than the object created', combined with the the fact that he did not have a permanent contract with a gallery, and earned his living as a teacher, enabled him to produce experimental works and avoid commercial duplication. This explain both the variety and the small number of works he produced.
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Curatorial Concept:
The exhibition will present Taylor's work alongside a selection of works by European artists — Pignon, Picasso, Miro, Bryen, Rebeyrolle, Riopelle, Hartung, Wols and others — who rejected the dualism 'Figuration. Abstraction', promoted by American critics like Rosenberg and Greenberg in their attempt to claim the superiority of the American avant-garde over the 'School of Paris'.
The issue centered around whether Art should emancipate itself from nature and operate by relinquishing any reference to it. Thus emerged the notion that art could be 'non figurative', 'non-referential' or even 'self-referential'.
The epistemologocal absurdity of such claims was not apparent to everyone, and gained increasing ascendency in artistic circles in Britain, where it has become dogma to this day.
In the wake of Greenberg and Rosenberg, art historians and critics have emphasized and promoted non-referentiality as the basis of Abstract Art, instead of examining how Figurative and Abstract Art implements diverse and comple forms of reference to the world; along an infinitely varied continuum.
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Taylor's work shows affinities and seems to have converged with experiments carried out in Europe rather than have been directly influenced by them. The continuum that enabled artist to develop different modes of reference requires that we situate Taylor in relation to the work of other St Ives artists, and at the same time in the context of European art.
The exhibition will present his work in dialogue with the work of other European artists with whom he shared some affinities.
The issue centered around whether Art should emancipate itself from nature and operate by relinquishing any reference to it. Thus emerged the notion that art could be 'non figurative', 'non-referential' or even 'self-referential'.
The epistemologocal absurdity of such claims was not apparent to everyone, and gained increasing ascendency in artistic circles in Britain, where it has become dogma to this day.
It is all the more surprising since Mondrian, in his essay Plastic Art and Pure Plastic Art, had noted that the distinction between 'figurative' and 'non figurative' art was 'approximate' and 'relative'; pointing out that 'every form, even every line, represents a figure, no form is absolutely neutral' (reprinted in Circle, p. 42).
In 1955 (date of the first Documenta), in response to the claims made by American artists and critics that the most advanced contemporary art was 'non-referential', Elaine de Kooning remarked:''The exclusion or inclusion of nature is, however, not a matter of the individual artist's choice. For art, nature is unavoidable'.
Mark Tobey— presented in 1958 (two years after the Tate Gallery exhibition of American painting) by Patrick Heron, as the 'forerunner of Pollock' — remarked: 'Pure abstraction for me would be a painting where one finds no correspondance to life — an impossibility for me.' (history link.org)
Mark Tobey— presented in 1958 (two years after the Tate Gallery exhibition of American painting) by Patrick Heron, as the 'forerunner of Pollock' — remarked: 'Pure abstraction for me would be a painting where one finds no correspondance to life — an impossibility for me.' (history link.org)
This, however, did not prevent the claim that Abstract Art — whether geometric or gestural — was a superior, more 'pure', form of art to spread and take hold of the British Art Establishment, before Pop Art and Nouveau Realisme made Figuration the new avant-garde.
In the wake of Greenberg and Rosenberg, art historians and critics have emphasized and promoted non-referentiality as the basis of Abstract Art, instead of examining how Figurative and Abstract Art implements diverse and comple forms of reference to the world; along an infinitely varied continuum.
Taylor's fascination for life forms and his resolutely pacifist views, developed during his war experience (and the sight of a concentration camp), meant that his art remained resolutely associated with the world, nature and history; albeit in non-literal or illustrative ways. This, however, did not prevent him from experimenting with form and structure.
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Taylor's work shows affinities and seems to have converged with experiments carried out in Europe rather than have been directly influenced by them. The continuum that enabled artist to develop different modes of reference requires that we situate Taylor in relation to the work of other St Ives artists, and at the same time in the context of European art.
The exhibition will present his work in dialogue with the work of other European artists with whom he shared some affinities.
At a time when British art was too readily accepting the dualism emphasised by American artists and critics, between Figuration and Abstraction, Taylor challenged this dualism and produced work that transcended it: situating himself in a zone across which operated as diverse artists as Picasso, Edouard Pignon, Jean Atlan, Camille Bryen, Wols, Miro, Rebeyrolle, Mark Tobey and others.
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