Peter Lanyon (1918-1964)

Zennor

Lanyon was born in St. Ives and studied art in Cornwall, but time spent with Ben Nicholson in 1939 opened his eyes to new artistic ideas. After serving with the RAF during the war he returned to St Ives keen to make up for lost time. He was a founder member of the Crypt Group and, despite falling out with Hepworth and Nicholson, became a key figure in the town's artistic community.

Lanyon tried to get under the skin of the Cornish landscape, viewing it from every angle (including from the air) and trying to combine those different viewpoints into his paintings. As a native Cornishman he also wanted to reflect his own experience of the landscape and its cultural and social history. This made for complex pictures which can be difficult to read. This gouache was created as a textile design. It may show Zennor from the air or viewed across a green hill to the sea or perhaps a combination of the two.

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