Belgrave St Ives - Modern & Contemporary Art

Bryan Pearce

Bryan Pearce (1929-2007)

Born: 1929 St Ives, Cornwall

Studied: St Ives School of Painting, under Leonard Fuller ROI CRA
1953-7

Biographical Overview:

Bryan Pearce was born in St Ives with a rare genetic condition, unknown at the time, called Phenylketonuria, a disease that impedes normal development of the brain. Initially introduced to painting and drawing by his artistmother as a form of therapy, Pearce immediately took to the practice that stayed with him for the rest of his life. In the early 1950s he attended the St Ives School of Painting, led by Leonard Fuller, who encouraged Pearce to develop his unique representation of the world through painting and drawing.

At the instigation of Peter Lanyon, Pearce had his first one person exhibition at the Newlyn Art Gallery in 1959. A truly natural painter, Pearce remained largely uninfluenced by other artists. Often paired with the earlier local Naive artist, AlfredWallis, although with different temperaments, both are genuine 'Outsider' artists with a similar matter-of-fact freshness and singularity of view.

Always beginning a painting with a feint pencil outline and gradually blocking in areas using a personal palette of colours, a sense of order and calmness, bathed in the ambient light of western Cornwall, pervades Pearce's work. From the 1970s, with the help of other St Ives artists, Pearce produced a series of etchings. Also, under the direction of fellow artists and master printmaker, a number of silk screen stencils based on his oil paintings were produced.

Always beginning a painting with a feint pencil outline and gradually blocking in areas using a personal palette of colours, a sense of order and calmness, bathed in the ambient light of western Cornwall, pervades Pearce's work. From the 1970s, with the help of other St Ives artists, Pearce produced a series of etchings. Also, under the direction of fellow artists and master printmaker, a number of silk screen stencils based on his oil paintings were produced.

Solo Exhibitions:

1959
Newlyn Gallery, near Penzance

1961
Sail Loft Gallery, St Ives

1962
St Martin's Gallery, London

1964
St Martin's Gallery, London
'Exhibition 9', Fore Street Gallery, St Ives (with Troika Pottery)

1966
Bene't Gallery, Cambridge
New Art Centre, London

1968
New Art Centre, London

1969
Sheviock Gallery, near Torpoint, east Cornwall

1971
New Art Centre, London

1972
Sheviock Gallery, near Torpoint, east Cornwall

1973
New Art Centre, London
The Cider Press, Dartington, Devon
The Beaford Art Centre, north Devon

1975
Oxford Museum of Modern Art, Oxford

1977
Wills Lane Gallery, St Ives
The Green Room, Newlyn Orion Gallery, Newlyn, near Penzance

1978
Victor Waddington Gallery, Cork Street, London

1980
Wills Lane Gallery, St Ives

1982
Wills Lane Gallery, St Ives (two-man)
Falmouth Art Gallery, Falmouth (early paintings)
Stoppenbach & Delestre, Cork Street, London

1983
Wills Lane Gallery, St Ives (two-man)

1984
Montpelier Studio, London
Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth (retrospective)

1989
Beaux Arts, Bath

1992
Penwith Gallery, St Ives (retrospective)

1993
Beaux Arts, Bath

1995
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol (retrospective)

1997
Beaux Arts, Bath

2000-01
Royal Cornwall Museum (and tour to Penwith Gallery, St Ives and Braintree District Museum & Art Gallery, Essex - retrospective)

2002
New Street Gallery, Plymouth

2004
Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Beaux Arts, Bath
Lemon Street Gallery, Truro

2005
Archeus Fine Art, Albemarle Street, London

2007
Tate St Ives, St Ives
Lemon Street Gallery, Truro
Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro
2019
BRYAN PEARCE - St Ives Artist, Belgrave St Ives, St Ives

Mixed Exhibitions:

1958
First London exhibition 'Arts Advancement Ltd', Sloane Square

1959
First one-man exhibition at Newlyn Gallery, Penzance

1962
First one-man exhibition in London at St Martin's Gallery

1963-4
Painting selected for fourth John Moores Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

1966
First retrospective exhibition at Penwith Gallery, St Ives

1975
Painting selected for Second British Drawing Biennale, Teeside, Middlesbrough

1985
Exhibited a painting in 'St Ives 1939-64, Twenty Five Years of Painting, Sculpture and Pottery' at the Tate Gallery, London

1989
Produced a poster for the first International Very Special Arts Festival, held at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington DC, USA

1990
Contributed an etching, Harbour, to the portfolio 'Ten Etchings', to raise money to build a new museum in St Ives to house the Tate Gallery's collection of St Ives paintings and sculpture

1991
Donated a painting, Four Fishing Boats, to 'Auction of Fine and Applied Art' presented by the St Ives Tate Action Group, David Lay's Auction House, 12 October 1991 to raise funds for the building of Tate Gallery St Ives

1995
Donated a painting, Three Boats, to 'The Hall for Cornwall' auction, City Hall, Truro, 12 October 1995 to raise funds for a new concert hall in Truro

2001
Painting Three Angels, 1986, on long term loan to St Ives parish Church for display in the Lady Chapel

2006
Contributed an etching for the 'Porthmeor Portfolio' to raise funds for the refurbishment of the historic Porthmeor Studios in St Ives

2011
'Different Ways of Seeing: Pearce, Gillchrest and Yates', Penlee House, Penzance

2012
'Soaring Spirits', Falmouth Art Gallery

2015
St Ives Exhibition, Belgrave St Ives, St Ives

2017
St Ives Exhibition, Belgrave St Ives, St Ives

2017-18
LAND | SEA | LIFE: A British Art Collection, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal
Cumbria


Collections:

Arts Council of England
The Contemporary Arts Society
Cornwall County Council Schools Works of Art Collection
CSO Contemporary Art Collection
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Kettle's Yard, University of Cambridge
Royal Cornwall Museum
Plymouth City Art Gallery
Portsmouth City Museum & Record Service
Stroud Court Community Trust
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Tate Gallery
The Ingram Collection of Modern British Art