Walter Hoyle (1922 – 2000)

King’s College Chapel, Cambridge (Cambridge Series 1956 – 66)

 

Linocut

72 x 41 cm

Signed and inscribed A/P in pencil.

Hoyle depicts King’s College Chapel as both indomitable and delicate. The bold composition sees the chapel’s spires surrounded by a fiery orange light against the black night of the background; at the same time, the western facade looks like it could have been cut from paper, or crafted from lace.

Hoyle trained at Beckenham School of Art and the Royal College of Art. At the latter he was strongly influenced by Edward Bawden, one of Britain’s greatest linocut printers. Bawden had been commissioned by the 1951 Festival of Britain to produce a mural for the South Bank, and chose Hoyle to assist on account of his great talent. Hoyle moved to Great Bardfield in Essex, becoming a part of the Great Bardfield group of artists; diverse in style, they created figurative work, in stark contrast to the abstract art of the St Ives artists at the opposite end of the country.

Hoyle taught at St Martin’s School of Art from 1951-60, the Central School of Arts and Crafts from 1960-64, and the Cambridge School of Art from 1964-1985, during which time he launched Cambridge Print Editions. His work is held in the collections of the Tate Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, The British Museum, Kettle’s Garden and the Fry Art Gallery.

Provenance: family of the artist.

Condition: generally very good; a few handling marks to margins.

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