# Bryan Pearce > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bryan_Pearce > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bryan_Pearce.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Pearce > Source revision: 1348825652 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|English painter (1929–2007)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}} {{Use British English|date=January 2017}} {{Infobox artist | name = Walter Bryan Pearce | birth_date = {{birth date|1927|07|25}}25 July 1929 | birth_place = St Ives, Cornwall, England | death_date = {{death date and age|2007|01|11|1929|07|25}}11 January 2007 | death_place = St Ives, Cornwall, England | known_for = Naïve art, landscape paintings of Cornwall | movements = | notable_works = | education = St. Ives School of Painting | influences = | website = }} '''Walter Bryan Pearce''' (25 July 1929 – 11 January 2007) was a British [painter](/source/Painting). He was recognised as one of the UK's leading [naïve art](/source/na%C3%AFve_art)ists. ==Early life== Bryan Pearce was born in [St. Ives, Cornwall](/source/St._Ives%2C_Cornwall), which remained his home for the rest of his life. His father, Walter, was a butcher in St Ives, played rugby for Cornwall, and was later mayor of St Ives. His mother, [Mary Warmington](/source/Mary_Warmington), was a painter from another local family. Pearce suffered from the [congenital disease](/source/congenital_disease) [phenylketonuria](/source/phenylketonuria), which affects the normal development of the brain. He attended a [special needs school](/source/special_needs_school) in the 1940s and 1950s and then, encouraged by his mother and, later, by other [St. Ives artists](/source/St._Ives_artists), he began drawing and painting in [watercolour](/source/watercolour)s in 1953 before moving on to [oil paint](/source/oil_paint) on board and, later, [conté crayon](/source/cont%C3%A9_crayon). He attended Leonard Fuller's [St. Ives School of Painting](/source/St._Ives_School_of_Painting) from 1953 to 1957. ==Artistic career== Pearce specialised in paintings of his home town, and the surrounding [Penwith](/source/Penwith) area, drawn in typically flat style, with areas of bright colour surrounded by heavy outlines, like [stained glass](/source/stained_glass). His learning disabilities gave his art, in the words of [Peter Lanyon](/source/Peter_Lanyon), an "awareness more direct" than pure observation. Guided by [Denis Mitchell](/source/Denis_Mitchell_(sculptor)), he joined the [Penwith Society of Arts](/source/Penwith_Society_of_Arts) in 1957, and the [Newlyn Society of Artists](/source/Newlyn_Society_of_Artists). He had his first solo exhibition at the [Newlyn Gallery](/source/Newlyn_Gallery) near [Penzance](/source/Penzance) in 1959, and his first solo exhibition in London at the [St Martin's Gallery](/source/St_Martin's_Gallery) in 1962. Retrospectives were held at various venues from 1966 to 2004, particularly at Penwith Gallery in 1966, the [Museum of Modern Art](/source/Museum_of_Modern_Art) in Oxford in 1975, the [Royal Cornwall Museum](/source/Royal_Cornwall_Museum) in Truro in 2000, and the [Victoria Art Gallery](/source/Victoria_Art_Gallery) in Bath in 2004. Examples of his work are held by many public galleries. His business affairs were dealt with first by his family and ultimately by trustees, enabling him to concentrate on his art. In the second half of his career a good deal of his work was produced and sold in the form of prints in relatively small signed, numbered editions. Some of these were small hand-made etchings, with which the artist had a 'hands on' creative involvement; others were full size screenprints made by printer-craftsmen 'after' works in other media. The latter certainly render just over twenty of Pearce's original images, with their pure, expansive areas of specific colours, extremely convincingly. Two of the earliest screenprints, 'St Ives All Round' and 'Newlyn All Round' (both 1976) were printed in black line only. A number of one-colour lithographs also exist. ==Death== Pearce died peacefully at home in St Ives on 11 January 2007. His funeral was held at [St Ives Parish Church](/source/St_Ia's_Church%2C_St_Ives) on 22 January 2007. An exhibition was held at the [Tate Gallery, St Ives](/source/Tate_St_Ives) from 3 February - 13 May 2007. It had been planned in retrospective to his death but became a memorial show. ==Paint Collection Information== The Bryan Pearce Estate gave a collection of his works from the 1950s to 2006 to the [Royal Cornwall Museum](/source/Royal_Cornwall_Museum). These were shown 17 November 2007 – 5 January 2008, at the Museum. Meanwhile, on 12 March 2008, an auction record for a painting by Bryan Pearce was set at Bonham's New Bond Street Auction Room in London when the work "St Ives Harbour 1" (1965), 20" x 46", realised a hammer price of £28,000 (with commission around £33,500). This record was soon broken as, in the following May, Pearce's largest known oil painting, 'Penzance Harbour (all round)', oil on board 20.5" x 60.5", sold for £39000 (with commission around £47,000) at a Penzance auction house, and was destined for the permanent collection at [Penlee House](/source/Penlee_House), Penzance. In October 2011, his St. Ives (all round) 1977, oil on board 24" x 45½", exceeded the pre-sale top estimate at Christies three times over, selling for £55250 (including buyer's premium) making it the most expensive Pearce to-date. Several biographies have been published about Bryan Pearce, including Ruth Jones's ''The Path of the Son'' (1976), Marion Whybrow's ''Bryan Pearce: a private view'' (1985) and Janet Axten's ''The Artist and His Work'' (2004). ==References== *[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/bryan-pearce-6229259.html Obituary], ''[The Independent](/source/The_Independent)'', 23 January 2007. *[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/jan/17/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries Obituary], ''[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)'', 17 January 2007. *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110522202634/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1329473.ece Obituary], ''[The Times](/source/The_Times)'', 27 January 2007. *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929150758/http://www.tate.org.uk/stives/exhibitions/bryan-pearce/default.shtm Special exhibition] at the [Tate Gallery, St Ives](/source/Tate_Gallery%2C_St_Ives) ==Further reading== * [Tate Gallery](/source/Tate_Gallery) (2007), ''St. Ives, all around: the paintings of Bryan Pearce''. John Wade, {{ISBN|978-1-85437-757-9}} [http://www.tate.org.uk/stives/] * [C. J. Stevens](/source/C._J._Stevens) (2004), ''The Miracle of Bryan Pearce''. John Wade, {{ISBN|1-882425-21-9}} [http://www.johnwade.com] * [Janet Axten](/source/Janet_Axten) (2004), ''Bryan Pearce and his Artist Friends''. Janet Axten, {{ISBN|0-9546909-0-7}} [http://www.wcaa.org.uk/cornwall-artists/janet-axten]{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} * [Janet Axten](/source/Janet_Axten) (2000), ''Bryan Pearce: The Artist and His Work''. Janet Axten, {{ISBN|1-900178-08-7}} [http://www.wcaa.org.uk/cornwall-artists/janet-axten]{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} * [Marion Whybrow](/source/Marion_Whybrow) (1985), ''Bryan Pearce- A Private View''. Marion Whybrow, {{ISBN|0-948385-01-4}} [http://www.wcaa.org.uk/cornwall-artists/marion-whybrow]{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} * Ruth Jones (1976), ''The Path of the Son''. Ruth Jones, {{ISBN|0-9504904-0-7}} ==External links== *{{Art UK bio}} * [http://www.bryanpearce.co.uk/ Bryan Pearce personal page], including [http://www.bryanpearce.co.uk/biography/ biography] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120321184411/http://www.lemonstreetgallery.co.uk/exhibition-brian-pearce.asp?ExhibitID=83 Lemon Street Gallery, Truro - Bryan Pearce Exhibition page] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060926045835/http://www.beauxartsbath.co.uk/Pearce/Pages/PEARCE.html Beaux Arts Gallery, Bath - Bryan Pearce pages] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, Bryan}} Category:St Ives artists Category:British naïve painters Category:1929 births Category:2007 deaths Category:People from St Ives, Cornwall Category:20th-century English painters Category:English male painters Category:21st-century English painters Category:20th-century English male artists Category:21st-century English male artists --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bryan Pearce](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Pearce) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Pearce?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.