Ben Hartley (1933-96): Another
look
8 October – 27 November
2011
Hartley, who died in 1996, is highly regarded
for his candid, humorous and colourful observations on country
life.
He was born in the Peak District in 1933 but for most of his career
he lived a solitary life in Devon where, aside from a few hours of
teaching each week, his time was taken up drawing the rural scenes
around him. The monk-like existence he led belied the sheer joy and
humour that was expressed in his paintings.
When Hartley died he bequeathed his work to
Bernard Samuels, the then Director of
Plymouth Arts Centre, who had worked
tirelessly to promote his art.
The bequest was huge and included 900 gouaches and 320 notebooks.
It proved to be an enormous revelation and unveiled some
significant stretches of the creative life of Ben Hartley that he
had never revealed to anyone else.
A considerable number of the pictures on
display have been loaned from institutional and private
collections.
In addition to the paintings, the exhibition
also contains a number of prints and drawings, precious personal
mementoes and several notebooks from the bequest collection.