Patrick Heron at Tate St Ives review: Doesn’t take off

Patrick Heron

Tate St Ives, Cornwall                                                                              Until Sep 30 

Rating:

It has been a fine few months for Tate St Ives. In October its £20 million extension was met with widespread critical acclaim, and next month the gallery is one of five contenders for the Art Fund’s prestigious Museum of the Year award.

The extension includes a sizeable new space for exhibitions, and the most intriguing show in it so far has just opened, dedicated to the English painter Patrick Heron (1920-99). 

I say ‘intriguing’ because Heron – along with Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson – was one of many leading artists who moved to the St Ives area of Cornwall in the Forties and Fifties.

As much as any English painter one can think of, Heron was a master of colour. Above: Interior With Garden Window, 1955

As much as any English painter one can think of, Heron was a master of colour. Above: Interior With Garden Window, 1955

When looking at works such as Ceruleum Sea (1961) and Square Blue (1972-1983), there’s a feeling that one only need step outside the gallery, on to Porthmeor Beach, to see precisely the waters Heron was painting.

Like the other St Ives artists of his time, Heron was best known for abstract works. 

An array of these are now on show: from the so-called ‘Stripe’ paintings, with their horizontal bands of paint in different colours, recalling the art of Mark Rothko; to the ‘Wobbly Hard-edge’ paintings, with their zany, interlocking shapes in vivid colours. 

Patrick Heron in his studio in 1969. Chronological order might have given a better sense of how his work at different times compared to that of his Abstract Expressionist peers

Patrick Heron in his studio in 1969. Chronological order might have given a better sense of how his work at different times compared to that of his Abstract Expressionist peers

The latter, in particular, dazzle against the white gallery walls. No reproduction of these works, whether in a magazine, online or in the exhibition catalogue, ever comes close to matching their impact in real life.

As much as any English painter one can think of, Heron was a master of colour.

So why only the two stars? Well, that’s through no fault of the artist’s own, but for the way the show has been arranged. 

 The so-called ‘Stripe’ paintings, with their horizontal bands of paint in different colours, recall the art of Mark Rothko. Above: Green And Mauve Horizontals, 1958

 The so-called ‘Stripe’ paintings, with their horizontal bands of paint in different colours, recall the art of Mark Rothko. Above: Green And Mauve Horizontals, 1958

The curators chose to avoid a chronological approach and have mixed up paintings from across the decades. 

The result is a free-for-all, with dry pseudo-intellectual titles for different rooms, such as Asymmetry And Recomplication.

Visitors without a detailed knowledge of Heron’s career trajectory – presumably the majority – are bound to be left confused. 

Chronological order might also have allowed us a better sense of how his work at different times compared to that of his peers in the Abstract Expressionist movement in New York, whom he admired yet considered rivals.

Against the odds, this Heron show just doesn’t take off.

The exhibition transfers to Turner Contemporary in Margate from Oct 19-Jan 6

 

ALSO WORTH SEEING 

Life In Motion

Tate Liverpool                                                                                              Until Sep 23 

Rating:

This year is the centenary of the death, at 28, of the great Austrian artist Egon Schiele. 

But the only Schiele offering in this country is a joint one, with the mid-20th century American photographer Francesca Woodman.

The exhibition is, unexpectedly, a winner. About 100 of Schiele’s drawings are on show, mostly depicting himself, his lovers or models in unflinchingly naked poses.

About 100 of Schiele’s drawings are on show, mostly depicting himself, his lovers or models in unflinchingly naked poses. Above: Self-portrait by Egon Schiele, 1914

About 100 of Schiele’s drawings are on show, mostly depicting himself, his lovers or models in unflinchingly naked poses. Above: Self-portrait by Egon Schiele, 1914

These still have the power to shock today. There’s undeniably eroticism, but it’s of a dark, disturbing kind. 

The subject of Woman In Boots With Raised Skirt, for example, eyes us up like a predator before her prey. 

The subject of Standing Nude Girl, meanwhile, tears into her left thigh with her nails.

Schiele used few lines and even fewer colours, yet always made them count.

His work alternates, room by room, with Woodman’s. 

The latter also died young (suicide, aged 22). And like the Austrian – albeit through black-and-white photos – she created images of startling nakedness. In one shot, clothes pegs are attached to a woman’s body parts.

In many ways, Woodman seems Schiele’s heir. They make an inspired pairing.  



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