Patrick Heron (1920-99) held a unique position in twentieth-century art. As one of the first British artists to embrace abstraction, he played a major role in the development of postwar art. Heron welcomed the eruption of American art in the 1950s and was strongly affected by his first encounters with abstract expressionism yet European artists such as Matisse, Bonnard and Braque remained a fundamental influence on his work. This dialogue was played out in paintings that pursued the ideal of an art as pure visual sensation.
In summer 2018, Tate St Ives (in collaboration with Turner Contemporary in Margate), will stage the first extensive presentation of Heron's distinctive abstract canvases for over twenty years. Published to accompany the exhibition, this book offers an entirely fresh perspective on Heron's practices. Lavishly illustrated, ranging from Heron's paintings of the 1940s to his late career, showing the full evolution of his vibrant abstract language and offering a unique opportunity to explore the extent of this modern master's sense of scale, colour and composition. Thought-provoking texts introduce and explain Heron's visual strategies (including `autonomy', `formal equality', `edge consciousness', `scale,' and `asymmetry'), illustrated with examples from throughout his artistic career and theories from his own writings.