Peter Prendergast was born in 1946, at Abertridwr, South Wales. One of twins, he was brought up in a family of coal miners who were used to hard work. His parents hoped that he would not have to follow in his father’s footsteps to the coal mines.
Although he failed his exams to enter the grammar school at 11 years old, he was encouraged by Gomer Lewis, his art teacher, to take up a career in art. Gomer emphasised the need to observe and draw the environment.
Following Gomer Lewis’s dedication, Prendergast became more conscious of contemporary artists, especially the expressive artists in Wales, such as Josef Herman, George Chapman and Ernest Zobole. He also had opportunities to see Paul Cezanne and Georges Rouault’s work, which made a great impression on him.
After leaving school he gained a scholarship to attend Cardiff’s ArtCollege. There he started painting local landscapes with expressive marks to convey his personal feelings about the subject.
Influences:
In the 1950’s there were a number of famous expressive artists working in Wales. Artists like Ernest Zobole, Charles Burton and Glyn Morgan. They called themselves ‘the Rhondda Group’
During his time in Cardiff, Prendergast collected a portfolio of work for an interview at the world famous Slade art college in London. As a result of the high standard of his work he was accepted to the college. This was an enormous achievement.
In the Slade, Prendergast’s work developed under the guidance of his lecturers Euan Uglow, William Coldstream and Michael Andrews who were also world famous artists. The biggest influence on him was the life drawing classes ofFrank Auerbach and, to a lesser extent, David Bomberg.
Under the guidance of Auerbach, Prendergast started creating exciting paintings and drawings that used black lines to create structure, with colour marks to create expression. His style was to paint rapidly and vigorously through direct observation.
After finishing his course at the Slade and following a period at ReadingArtCollege, Prendergast moved with his family to Bethesda in North Wales. Prendergast saw a similarity between Abertridwr and Bethesda. Bethesda is an industrial village very similar to Abertridwr. Prendergast liked the industrial scars on the landscape – a constant theme in his work.
He responds directly to the landscape and weather with vigour, as seen on the left. During his time in Bethesda he painted his most famous work, which was a study of Penrhyn Quarry. This painting combined all his most distinct features; vigour, expression, observation and colour. The painting was bought by the Tate Gallery in London.
Gradually Prendergast’s work has changed. After he moved to live in Deiniolen and following a number of world wide exhibitions and commissions, his work has developed. There has been a change in style and subject. He paints the coast, as we can see on the right, without any obvious evidence of man’s influence on the landscape.
His style has also become more abstract, responding with increasing vigour and energy through the paint and colour marking and using fewer lines to create structure.
Technique: Peter Prendergast works directly from the landscape with vigour. He uses lines, marks and colour to create expression.
The starting point for Peter Prendergast’s work is drawing directly from the landscape. He spends long periods working vigorously in front of a particular landscape.
One of his characteristics is starting on one piece of paper and then adding more pieces to record the space, as in his study of Penrhyn Quarry.
Working in this way allows Prendergast to collect enough information to create paintings.
One of the main features of Peter Prendergast’s work is his use of colour. He uses oil paint to convey movement and expression.
By using dark lines against descriptive colour he creates structure to the painting.
The colours not only record the landscape but also the weather and his feeling towards the subject.
When using paint Peter Prendergast uses brush strokes to convey movement and expression in the landscape.
Often he works so quickly that he mixes paint directly on the canvas.Although a landscape is a definite thing, it changes constantly because of the effect of the weather.
Light has a direct effect on the landscape’s colours and structure.This is one reason why Prendergast responds to the landscape with such energy, in order to work quickly to try to capture these changes.
Peter Prendergast also draws figures. Life drawing has been a strong tradition in fine art and he developed his skills during his period at SladeCollege.
Prendergast responds to figures in a way very similar to the way he responds to landscape- with energy and expression.
In the painting “Self Portrait and Landscape” he has combined figure and landscape with a self-portrait in his studio in Deiniolen.
In the painting he has played with space by placing a mirror near the window. The eye is lead to two points in the picture, that is the self-portrait and the chapel in the distance.
Once again he is using strong lines on paint to create structure with colour to convey expression.
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