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Bryan Pearce (British 1929-2007), "Hayle Harbour" signed, oil on board handwritten label verso, inscribed Hayle Harbour by Bryan Pearce, Chylowen St Ives Cornwall. Provenance - purchased directly from the artist circa 1963 and then by descent from the original owner to the present owner (see illustration). ARR

Walter Bryan Pearce was born in St Ives in 1929. At a young age he was diagnosed with phenylketonuria and was encouraged by his parents to take up painting in watercolours and drawing. His artistic career showed a wide range of mediums, ranging from his careful use of watercolour in his early years, to his more self assured use of oil paint in the 1950s, and then later, his more dramatic and sophisticated interpretations using conte crayon.

In 1953, he was encouraged to attend the St Ives School of Painting, where he studied under portrait and still life painter Leonard Fuller. He remained there until 1957.

The St Ives School was heavily inspired by the landscape of West Cornwall, and its artists used the shapes, colours, and forms of the region as inspiration for their artwork. Pearce, himself, specialised in paintings of St Ives and surrounding areas such as Penwith. He saw his hometown as a 'sanctuary of ever-present sun' and this can be seen in his artwork, which is recognisable for its very flat perspective and vibrant colour with bold outlines. In his oil painting of Hayle Harbour, these qualities can be visualised in a very naive manner.

Walter Bryan Pearce was a revered figure in West Cornwall and exhibited extensively there, and other galleries around Britain. In 1957, for example, he began exhibiting regularly at Penwith Gallery, St Ives. He then had his first solo exhibition at the Newlyn Gallery in 1959, after becoming a member there. Other galleries he exhibited at include the New Art Centre, the Victor Waddington Gallery in London, the Beaux Arts Gallery in Bath, and the Oxford Museum of Modern Art.

Following his death in 2007, his works featured in an exhibition at the Tate St Ives, and today some hang on the walls of galleries including Kettle's Yard in Cambridge.

Sold for £7000
(30^th November 2022)