Dimensions: support: 466 x 620 mm
Copyright: © The estate of Peter Lanyon | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: This is Peter Lanyon’s "Coast", currently held at the Tate. The brushstrokes are so visible, almost violent, and the materials seem crucial to how it evokes the sea. What can you tell me about it? Curator: Notice the artist's hand is present in every visible mark. The application of paint and ink, their textures, speak to the physical act of creation, almost like manual labor. How does Lanyon's process reflect the working class experiences connected to coastal life, the fishermen, boat builders, or dockworkers? Editor: That's a great point, I hadn't considered the labor involved, just the visual outcome. It makes me think about the coast in a new way. Curator: Exactly! By emphasizing the materiality and production, Lanyon elevates these overlooked aspects of coastal existence.
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In 1951 Lanyon began a series of paintings of the Penwith coastline in west Cornwall, where he had been brought up. The area was already being redefined as a tourist site, but Lanyon resisted the idea that it was a place of only scenic or picturesque attraction. Here Lanyon conveys a Cornish landscape long defined by economic and industrial activity. The structuring black lines refer to old mine shafts running under the ground and the sea. Just as Paul Nash and other inter-war artists found unexpected visual qualities in electricity pylons, Lanyon also registers a line of telegraph poles. Gallery label, September 2004
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