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Notes

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This painting, as with a number of works from the 1950s, resolves Wells' fascination with the geometric forms of Constructivism and his love of the Cornish landscape. Angular forms are contained within evocatively textured surface through Wells' practice of repeatedly incising and scraping-back layers of paint to define form.

Wells' method of selectively revealing layers of underpainting was inherited from Ben Nicholson, giving his ambiguous landscape compositions a geological dimension. During the 1950s Peter Lanyon encouraged Wells to explore the landscape of West Penwith and temper his desire for formal structure with a more romantic response to the landscape.

The Pier Arts Centre

Stromness

Title

Landscape (Mineral)

Date

1953

Medium

oil on cardboard

Measurements

H 20.5 x W 36 cm

Accession number

PAC 67

Acquisition method

gift from Margaret Gardiner, 1979

Work type

Painting

Inscription description

1. 'LANDSCAPE (MINERAL) / John Wells 1953'. 2. exhibition label for Tate (Pier Gallery Collection 20th Sept-29th Oct 1978). 3. exhibition label for Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums (Pier Gallery Collection 1978). 4. exhibition label (artist name and title). 5. exhibition label for Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Out of Place: Works from the Pier Arts Centre collection).

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