SS4: 20th Century and Contemporary Art Auction

Michael Neville Seward Snow [1930-2012] - Kenidjack

Auction Lot SS4/36

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Michael Neville Seward Snow [1930-2012] - Kenidjack (SS4/36) offered in our 20th Century and Contemporary Art Auction starting on 27th February 2018 at our salerooms in Exeter, Devon.

Lot Description

Michael Neville Seward Snow [1930-2012] - Kenidjack - signed, inscribed and dated 1964 on the reverse oil on canvas 112 x 152cm, unframed.

This lot is subject to Droit de Suite.

Notes

The Kenidjack coast takes in historical and industrial sites set in coastal heathland within the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site. * Biography with no formal training Michael Snow showed an early interest in poetry, literature and the arts at school in Rugby and as a librarian in Manchester, with Tony Connor and Malcolm Bishop, he founded the Peterloo Group. After seeing an exhibition of St Ives artists in Liverpool, including Alexander Mackenzie, Snow moved there in 1951. Two years later he was elected member of the newly found Penwith Society along with Hepworth and Nicholson. Snow was particularly enamoured with the lyrical expression of John Wells, W Barns Graham, Alex Mackenzie, George Dannatt and Ben Nicholson. His work continued to change and evolve; his 1960s works bearing more resemblance to the painterly expressionism of Bryan Winter, Terry Frost and Roger Hilton. by the 1970s Snow's personal interest in science, ranging from mineralogy to cosmology, resulted in works such as Sun & Moon and Blue Planet. From 1965 to 1985 Snow entered the field of education He taught at the vibrant Exeter College of Art where he became Director of the Combined Honours Course. His interdisciplinary openness made popular with his students. Michael's succinct catalogue statement for his 24 work show at London's Rowan Gallery in 1964 explained his pictures as 'additions to nature, not imitations of it I may receive a stimulus to start work from a new landscape but my real problem is the solution of the canvas - painting matters if it is honest...because it is not only a visual addition to our environment..it is the only way to learn to see'. Michael Seward Snow, painter and teacher, born Manchester 27 June 1930, married 1950 Sylvia Jarrett (divorced 1956), 1957 Margaret Lambert (one son, Justin). Died Hillerton Cross, Devon, 15 July 2012. Solo Exhibition. Belgrave Gallery, 2015.