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Victor Pasmore

VICTOR PASMORE

Victor Pasmore was a representational painter of still life and landscapes, who later became an Abstract artist, producing collages, constructions and paintings.

Pasmore was born in Chelsam, Surrey, where he spent his childhood and studied at Harrow. In 1927 he moved to London where he soon became a member of the 'avant-garde' art world, while working in local government. In 1932 he was elected a member of the London Artists Association and later the London group and exhibited at the Zwemmer Gallery. In 1937 he joined Claude Rogers and William Coldstream in starting an art school. The following year, with the support of Kenneth Clark he was able to devote himself entirely to painting and held his first important one-man show at the Wildenstein Gallery in 1940.

His paintings were mostly Whistlerian landscapes and portraits but in 1948 he started to experiment with pure abstract forms and surprised the public with a one-man show of abstract paintings at the Redfern Gallery.

In 1954 he was appointed Director of Painting at the University of Newcastle and began a project that was to last over 20 years designing the layout and architecture of the new town of Peterlee.

From 1960 on he held a series of retrospective exhibitions, held in some of the most important international museums. In 1964 he was awarded the Carnegie Prize and showed at the Tate Gallery, London and the Sao Paolo Biennial.

In 1966 he moved to Malta and in 1966 began intensive experimentation with making prints at the 2RC printshop in Rome. Printmaking became a major part of his oeuvre and he worked with Curwen Press, Kelpra Studio, White Ink and other print studios. Since his death the popularity of his prints has grown immensely and the earlier work is becoming very scarce.