Peter Lanyon (1918-1964)
Born in St Ives, Peter Lanyon can clearly claim to be have been “in at the beginning” at this iconic Cornish art centre. He studied briefly at the Penzance School of Art in 1937 going to the Euston Road School in 1938, again briefly. In 1939 he met Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Naum Gabo who had moved to St Ives on the outbreak of war and received private art tuition from Ben Nicholson. In 1949 after war service and extensive travels he became a founder member of Penwith Society of Arts and began teaching at Corsham. Lanyon continued to travel and was heavily influenced by a number of American artists whom he met, including Mark Rothko. His appreciation of the “traditional English landscapes” was thus modified by these transatlantic influences and he moved toward a much looser and more open kind of painting. He died in 1964 as a result of a gliding accident.
