PRIME: PERSONAL
EXPERIENCE
There
were a number of influences that initially affected
my insight into the phenomena of colour. My
mother, who studied at the Hammersmith School
of Art, London, evacuated to Trowbridge in Wiltshire,
had continued for a short time at the Bath School
of Art, when the Second World War made it impossible
for her to go on with formal studies. My father,
a design engineer, would paint small watercolour
pictures, when we visited places as a family,
and it was he, who first explained to me, how
to manipulate the medium. Television in the
time of my childhood, was experienced as black,
white, and in-between shades of grey horizontally
hatched lines. I vividly recall the news bulletins,
especially when superpowers, America and Russia
raced to the moon. Encyclopaedias and National
Geographic magazines at home, were mostly black
on white; and one could only imagine, what the
photographs might have been like in colour,
and a desire within me to impose colour on such
images, developed. |
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The Painter on his way to work
Vincent Van Gogh, August 1888 Kaiser-Friedrich Museum
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Then
came the advent of colour television with its
integral manipulation of red,
blue,
and green
light, which attempted to colour worlds, far
beyond my experience. My parents however,
understanding my natural curiosity, introduced
me to the paintings within the National Gallery
in London, and especially the local Museum of
Art, within my hometown of Swindon, amongst
others. I was allowed to spend many contented
hours in quiet contemplation, in almost religious
awe of such works. I thrilled at the vibrant
and rich colour of the French Impressionists,
and was especially drawn to the work of Vincent
Van Gogh and Edgar Degas. "How
come", I thought,
"were these
men, able to see such vivid colour in life",
which at the time, I felt I could only imagine.
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