Patrick Proctor - Art & Life: Art & Life - Hardcover

Massey, Ian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1906509093 ISBN 13: 9781906509095

Publisher: Unicorn Publishing Group, 2010

Synopsis

This is the first major study of the British artist Patrick Procktor RA (1936-2003), a key figure of the Sixties and Seventies. The book draws on original interviews with those who knew Procktor at all stages of his life and career: amongst the large cast list are Celia Birtwell, Kaffe Fassett, Christopher Gibbs, Gilbert and George, David Hockney, Lord Snowdon and Kyffin Williams. The text draws also on unpublished archive material, including personal correspondence. The book is profusely illustrated with reproductions of the artist's work, many of which have never before been published, along with fascinating documentary photographs of Procktor and his circle. The book includes 177 colour illustrations and 49 in black and white.

About this title

From the Author:

Ian Massey, writer, artist and lecturer, studied Fine Art atExeter College of Art & Design, and Graphic Design atManchester Polytechnic. He has an ongoing fascinationwith post-war and contemporary British art, and has writtenabout, amongst others, the painters John McLean andJohn Blackburn. His writing has been included in Varoom,The Guardian, Printmaking Today, and Ceramics: Arts andPerception. This is his first book. Ian Massey lives in Manchester, and teaches at the University of Huddersfield.

From the Inside Flap:

Patrick Procktor RA (1936-2003) has been one of the leastdocumented of the artists who came to prominence inLondon in the Sixties. A notable painter and printmaker, hewas also a portraitist of distinction: his subjects include manyof the Sixties and Seventies figures with whom he associated,and his portraits of the actress Jill Bennett and playwright JoeOrton are amongst the iconic images of the era. Procktordesigned for the stage at the Royal Court Theatre and forSadler's Wells, and exhibited his paintings internationally. Histravels in India, Italy, China and Egypt inspired importantbodies of work in painting and printmaking.Ian Massey's comprehensive and copiously-illustrated studydraws on original interview material with those who knewProcktor at all stages of his life and career, including many keynames of the period: the cast list includes Celia Birtwell,Christopher Gibbs, Gilbert and George, David Hockney, LordSnowdon, David Oxtoby and Kyffin Williams. The textincludes previously-unpublished archive material and personalcorrespondence.The book examines Procktor's relationships with gallerydirector Bryan Robertson, the artist Michael Upton,model/pop singer Gervase Griffiths and restaurateur KirstenBenson, whilst also documenting the wider circle of hisacquaintance. A renowned dandy and wit, described by hisfriend Roger Cook as `a social genius', Procktor's friendsincluded Cecil Beaton, Richard Buckle, Ossie Clark, DerekJarman, David Hockney, Peter Langan, Princess Margaret, andKeith Vaughan. From his schooldays to training as a Russianlinguist in the Royal Navy, to study at the Slade School of FineArt in the late Fifties and early Sixties and his first majorsuccess in 1963, the author charts Procktor's life and career.He describes the development of the artist's work - much ofwhich is intensely autobiographical - and the ways in whichits critical reception was informed by Procktor's persona.His later years were blighted by alcoholism and loneliness, butProcktor continued drawing and painting very nearly to theend.The book includes more than a hundred colour and black andwhite reproductions of works from throughout the artist'scareer, many of them never before published, with fascinatingdocumentary photographs of Procktor and his friends.

About this edition

• Publisher: Unicorn Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1906509093
• ISBN 13: 9781906509095
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224