“The Poet or Painter Steers His Life to Maim…”

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Department for Transport, Great Minster House, Marsham Street

Drawing on the work of American abstract expressionists and European modernists, Irvin developed an abstract style exemplified in this print. He started to produce screenprints in the later years of his career. The title of this print is a quote from ‘The Thermal Stair’ a poem by Scottish poet W.S. Graham dedicated to British artist Peter Lanyon (1918–1964), who died in a gliding accident. The experience of gliding provided Lanyon with the basis for his abstract landscapes. Irvin befriended Lanyon in the late 1950s, and they shared a belief in the way abstract art could convey one’s own perception of the world.

Albert Irvin was born in Bermondsey in London and moved as a young child to the north of the city. He was evacuated from there at the start of the second world war, during which time he went to Northampton Art School. His studies were interrupted by the war and had to take up service in the armed forces, which he did, as a navigator in the RAF. He continued his art studies at Goldsmiths College after the war and returned there to teach between 1962 and 1983. He exhibited regularly at his London gallery and was awarded a Travel Award to America by the Arts Council in 1968, later receiving an Arts Council Major Award. A retrospective of his work was held at the Serpentine Gallery in 1990 and he was elected a Royal Academician in 1998.

Places

Subjects

abstract

Materials & Techniques

screenprint

Artist

Albert Irvin (1922 - 2015)

Title

“The Poet or Painter Steers His Life to Maim…”

Portfolio Title

Artists' Choice

Edition

45/48

Date

1987

Medium

Screenprint with impressed platemark

Dimensions

height: 30.80 cm, width: 30.70 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from the Royal College of Art, November 2007

Inscription

below image: 45/48 / Irvin '87

Provenance

Royal College of Art

GAC number

18161/28