Victor Pasmore 1908-1998
Painter of figures, landscapes, still-life and abstracts in oils, constructivist, theoretician and teacher. He attended evening classes at the Central School under A.S. Hartrick 1927-31, and in 1932 joined the LAA which sponsored his first exhibition at the Cooling Gallery 1933, and through which he met Coldstream and Rogers. He exhibited at the LG from 1930, becoming a member in 1934, and at the Objective Abstraction Exhibition, Zwemmer Gallery 1934. In 1937 he was a founder with Coldstream and Rogers of the Euston Road School and in 1940 married Wendy Lloyd Blood.... read more
Painter of figures, landscapes, still-life and abstracts in oils, constructivist, theoretician and teacher. He attended evening classes at the Central School under A.S. Hartrick 1927-31, and in 1932 joined the LAA which sponsored his first exhibition at the Cooling Gallery 1933, and through which he met Coldstream and Rogers. He exhibited at the LG from 1930, becoming a member in 1934, and at the Objective Abstraction Exhibition, Zwemmer Gallery 1934. In 1937 he was a founder with Coldstream and Rogers of the Euston Road School and in 1940 married Wendy Lloyd Blood.
His break into abstract art was inspired by the artists Piet Mondrian and Paul Klee and their writings. By the late 1940’s he had developed a purely abstract style under the influence of Ben Nicholson and other artists associated with Circle, becoming a pioneering figure of the revival of interest in Constructivism in Britain following the War. He organised exhibitions of abstract art with Hill, Adams, Heath and Martins at the AIA Gallery, Redfern Gallery and Gimpel fils. Pasmore’s abstract work, often in collage and construction of reliefs, pioneered the use of new materials and was sometimes on a large architectural scale. Herbert Read described Pasmore’s new style as “The most revolutionary event in post-war British art”.
In 1951 Pasmore contributed a mural to the Festival of Britain that promoted a number of the British Constructivists. He exhibited regularly in leading London galleries, including the Redfern 1940-55, the Marlborough Gallery from 1961, and retrospective exhibitions were held at the Tate Gallery in 1965 and 1980. His work was also shown in the British Pavilion at the 1960 Venice Biennale and at the Documenta II 1959 in Kassel.
In 1966 Pasmore moved to Malta where he lived for the most of the year until his death.
Pasmore’s work is represented in many public collections including the Tate Gallery and MOMA, New York. He taught at Camberwell School of Art 1943-9, and at the Central School 1949-54. From 1954-61 he was master of painting, Department of Fine Art, Durham University, and started the abstract foundation course ‘The Developing Process’. A Trustee of the Tate Gallery 1963-6, his many awards include a CBE 1959, and in 1981 Companion of Honour.
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