Lightfall, painted in 1960, belongs to the 'new consciousness' series of paintings that Bryan Wynter commenced in 1956. In this period Wynter attempted to avoid any preconceived notion of the direction a work would take. Whilst not denying his involvement he preferred the painting to find a path and conclusion. Initially this abstention from a conscious direction was aided by the drug Mescalin, but over time the artist trained himself to achieve the same end unaided. Upon completion Wynter would stand back assessing the completed work and only at that stage, title it, and in so doing, suggest an interpretation.
With Galerie Charles Lienhard, Zurich, Switzerland, 1962
Important private UK collection of St Ives Modernism.
Exhibitions
Galerie Charles Lienhard, Zurich, Switzerland, 1962
British Abstract Art of the 50s and 60s, Belgrave Gallery, London and illustrated in catalogue, 1992
Fishwick and Friends, Falmouth Art Gallery, 2011
The Bigger Picture, Penlee House Art Gallery, Penzance, 2015
A Passion for Cornish Art, Penlee House Gallery & Museum, 2023
In January 1956 Wynter completed first ‘new consciousness’ painting, Interior. In a single swift step that work announced a new and mature style of painting with its complex arrangement of free marks, dragged or elliptical brushstrokes and almost spinal forms arranged in a largely vertical composition. The new consciousness paintings show an increasing influence by the New York Abstract Expressionists; most notably Bradley Walker Tomlin, Mark Tobey and Jackson Pollock in whose work grilles or networks of interwoven brush strokes (in Pollock's case, brush dribbles and splashes) manifest the painted form. That said, whilst Wynter like all artists assimilated influences from his contemporaries, each of his works are ultimately his invention and uniquely, 'a Bryan Wynter’.
By the late 1950s Wynter’s international standing was becoming established (with shows in Tokyo, Chicago and Rome and acquisitions from the MOMA and leading American collectors) and in fact the artist was singled out as a solitary British match for the titans of New York’s Abstract Expressionism. In 1959 Alan Bowness wrote in Art News and Review “Bryan Wynter is now among the few English painters of unquestionable international status.” Even the US-centric London correspondent for Art and Artists, who slated the ‘mediocre London imitators’ of American Modernism, had to concede that the ‘one serious challenge’ to American dominance was Bryan Wynter.
In 1959 Wynter moved to a new London dealer, Victor Waddington with his first exhibition of 28 paintings in March of that year. In January 1962 Wynter had an exhibition, which included Lightfall (1960), at the prestigious Galerie Charles Lienhard in Zurich. Lightfall was subsequently exhibited at the Belgrave Gallery in London, Falmouth Art Gallery and Penlee House Gallery & Museum on two occasions.