HASTINGS.- Paul Feiler was one of the foremost figures of the Modern Art movement emanating from the South West of England, fascinated by the architecture of space and the ambiguities of visual experience. The British artist’s primary inspiration was the meditative landscape and unique light of Cornwall; his lyrical abstract works from the 1950s and 1960s relate to the natural forms he was surrounded by. From the late 1960s onwards Feiler’s work became more geometric, setting himself a series of technical parameters by which to work under and subsequently allowing for more creative freedom. He began creating thinly-glazed surfaces in which squares and circles gave a subtle interplay of projection and recession through gradations of tone. A sense of enclosure within his paintings was intended to evoke the sacred areas of classical temples, often incorporating gold or silver leaf dispersed between the quiet movement of colour and light.
Paul Feiler forged close friendships with many of the leading artists of his generation, including William Scott, Peter Lanyon and Roger Hilton. He was not a typical ‘St Ives’ painter and always followed his own path. As he said in a statement made to Michael Tooby at the time of his 1995 Tate St Ives retrospective:
‘I’m trying to make complex problems very simple, both in my way of thinking and in my painting. I’m trying to avoid profundities and I’m avoiding attributing importance to something that to me seems to be the essence of human existence. I’ve spent my life being anonymous and I’d like my painting to be important because of the anonymity.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Paul Feiler rarely spoke or wrote a great deal about his work. He felt it should speak for itself. The forthcoming 2018 programme offers a unique and in-depth examination of the man behind the art, bringing together the artist’s varied oeuvre through a major solo exhibition at the Jerwood Gallery, a comprehensive monograph written by Michael Raeburn and a solo exhibition alongside Feiler’s wife of over 40 years, Catharine Armitage, at The Redfern Gallery this Autumn.
In 2017 Tate Britain acquired the late painting Janicon LXII (2002) from the Paul Feiler Estate and The Redfern Gallery. In celebration of the opening of their new gallery, Tate St Ives are also currently displaying Portheras Grey (1959/61) in a new three-year hang, which is exhibited adjacent to a 1950 painting by Mark Rothko. The two artists met in 1959 during Rothko’s well-documented visit to Cornwall. In addition to works in the permanent collections, Paul Feiler had two major retrospective exhibitions at Tate St Ives in 1995 and 2005 during his lifetime.
The Paul Feiler centenary will be marked by the following events:
• The Redfern Gallery and the Paul Feiler Estate will launch a new Paul Feiler monograph by art historian and close friend of Feiler, Michael Raeburn (published by Lund Humphries) in April
• A major retrospective, Paul Feiler: One Hundred Years takes place from 21st April to 8th July at the
Jerwood Gallery, Hastings
• Paul Feiler and Catharine Armitage co-current solo exhibitions at The Redfern Gallery in the autumn, spanning the main and lower galleries respectively
Paul Feiler: One Hundred Years presents the first major retrospective since the artist’s death, bringing a dynamic selection of previously unseen works to public view. The display includes works that span his long and productive career, from the figurative paintings of the 1940s to the Perspex square reliefs he made in his later years, which are being displayed across the ground floor of the gallery. Works have been borrowed from the Tate, the Arts Council Collection, Royal West of England Academy and the Paul Feiler Estate to create a truly inspiring and revealing exhibition of an artist who was constantly innovating, even into his final years.
Liz Gilmore, Director of Jerwood Gallery said: “In this centenary year of Paul Feiler’s birth we are delighted to be showcasing the diversity of his work. The piece of his (Chrome & Lemon, 1956) in the Jerwood Colle ction is such a favourite of our visitors and this exhibition puts that work in the context of his wider oeuvre. As the last of his peer group working in St Ives, he represents a critical point in art history from a place where such talented creatives had found each other. Feiler took inspiration from landscape and coast, which was so evocative of his time and place and is so suitable for our coastal gallery in Hastings.”
Paul Feiler was born in Frankfurt in 1918. His family moved to London in 1936. After graduating from The Slade, from 1946 onwards he taught at the West of England College of Art in Bristol, where in 1960 he became head of painting. In 1953, with the proceeds of his first sell-out exhibition at The Redfern Gallery, Feiler bought a disused chapel near Penzance which he converted into a home. In 1974 he and his family moved permanently to Cornwall and, a year later, he took over his friend Bryan Wynter’s studio at Paul (originally used by Stanhope Forbes) which he maintained throughout his life.
Feiler’s work is held in numerous British collections, including the Tate; the Victoria and Albert Museum; Kettle’s Yard and the Arts Council. International collections featuring his work include the Gallery of Modern Art in Washington, DC; the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and the Toronto Art Gallery in Canada.
