(1918 - 1964)
Born in St Ives, Peter Lanyon studied at Penzance School of Art (1937). In 1939 he met Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Naum Gabo who had settled in St Ives. After 1950, Lanyon’s work remained abstract yet inspired by the Cornish landscape and by the exhibition of American Abstract Expressionism at the Tate (1956). During his solo show in New York (1957) Lanyon met Mark Rothko who later visited him in St Ives. In 1959 Lanyon took up gliding, mainly as a way of getting to know the landscape better – many of his late paintings were based on his aerial experiences. Tragically, injuries sustained in a gliding accident caused Lanyon’s death in December 1964.
