Works

Shangri-La 1990 - 2010

Coffee

  • Oil on canvas
  • 101.5 x 101.5 cms
  • 2001

Coffee

Signed, titled and dated on the reverse

Colour is important. It is the artist's boldness as a colourist that is one of the most dramatic impressions and one that is carried through from his earliest works.

Colour is frequently unmodulated and flat and what is depicted is a shadowless world. Shadows had been abolished by Greaves since the beginning of the 1960s when objects stopped having a light side and dark side; they were modelled as though a light shone on them from outside the picture. The shadows were found by him to be unnecessary, thus the modelling of the objects and the shadows disappeared simultaneously, giving the chance of a newer, more freshly found rebirth of forms, as in Coffee (2001).

(2001) is characteristic, occupying a distinct space between the late paintings of William Scott and Peter Kinley. Greaves hides his touch to allow the colour to dominate and uses lines that are firm, but do not necessarily relate to the subject's outline

Provenance

Private Collection, London

History

Derrick Greaves, Paintings and Drawings 1952 - 2002, James Hyman Gallery, 28 January - 4 March 2005

Literature

Derrick Greaves: Paintings and Drawings 1952 - 2002, James Hyman Gallery, London, 2003, (cat. 51), illustrated p.44.
James Hyman, Derrick Greaves:From Kitchen Sink to Shangri-La, Lund Humphries, London 2007, illustrated p.154.

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Enquiries: JAMES HYMAN GALLERY