THE WONDER OF PHILIP SUTTON
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Description
This hardback edition of The Wonder of Philip Sutton brims with delightful quality reproductions of Sutton’s vibrant Cretan landscapes.
There the artist found fresh light for his palette and his ever wondrous oil paintings hum with the the hues he found to play with during his time on the island.
Sketches in coloured pencil accompany the paintings, Philip drawing with delicate curiosity the surrounding hills, rocks and passing shepherds.
There are photographs of the artist at work and a preface by his grandson Jaz Allen-Sutton.
This book comes to you directly from Philip’s private gallery in Bridport, Dorset, where the artist lives and works near the town’s harbour. His gallery is located in Bridport’s lively Art and Craft Quarter.
Philip Sutton RA studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London in the fifties and the painter stood out from early on with his unusual palette and joyous colours. Receiving scholarships to paint abroad, Sutton travelled to France, Italy and Israel, where, in sketchbooks and on canvas he turned his delight at observation into brilliant images.
Philip went on to hold many one man shows in London, and in the early 60’s he and his wife Heather decided to take their young family to live on the island of Fiji, where he would spend a year painting a collection of bright tropical landscapes.
The family also lived in Suffolk for a time and in Falmouth, Cornwall. As well as wondrous landscapes and harmonies of flowers, he has always enjoyed painting impressions of family and friends with his light touch.
He and Heather would later move to South Wales, his colours ever vibrant as he observed the light on the meadow in front of their house or birds crossing pink-blue clouds.
Sutton continued to delight exhibition-goers with his delicate yet bold way of balancing paint and he would hold exhibitions in Britain and around the world.
The artist has received many commissions over the years, including a set of Royal Mail stamps and a London Underground poster. He has sold paintings to collections including the UK Parliament and the Tate. In 1989, he was elected Royal Academician.
A series of Shakespeare paintings that Sutton made in the 90’s with his distinctive flare toured Britain and have been on show at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London and at the playwright’s birthplace in Stratford Upon Avon.
After visiting the Greek island in the 2010’s, Sutton created a series of Cretan landscapes, painting with wonder the light of the sun on the hills.
Philip now lives in West Bay, Dorset where he continues to draw and paint prolifically, and he has opened his own gallery in nearby Bridport. He is interested in observing the world and his work is a joy to behold.