Dennis Creffield British, 1931-2018
Lewes Crescent & Garden from the East, 1970
Oil on canvas
48 x 48 in
122 x 122 cm
122 x 122 cm
Signed, titled & dated on reverse
Born in London in 1931, Dennis Creffield displayed a precocious artistic talent from a young age. He attended David Bomberg’s evening classes at the Borough Polytechnic between 1957 and 1951....
Born in London in 1931, Dennis Creffield displayed a precocious artistic talent from a young age. He attended David Bomberg’s evening classes at the Borough Polytechnic between 1957 and 1951. Creffield became a member of the Borough Group which coalesced around Bomberg in 1949, and alongside contemporaries including Marr, Mead, Auerbach and Kossoff, he began to explore his own idiosyncratic style. From 1957-1961, Creffield studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, winning the Tonks Prize for life drawing and the Steer Medal for landscape painting. From 1964-1968 he was a Gregory Fellow in Painting at the University of Leeds and in 1977 he was awarded the Arts Council Major Award for Painting.
During his years at Borough Creffield developed a particular proclivity towards both painting and drawing, exploring manifold subjects. Creffield’s affinity to the English landscape is evident in his extensive production of large scale studies and panoramas, depicting subjects ranging from the urban centres of London and Leeds to the cathedral towns of Canterbury and Exeter. Creffield settled in Brighton in 1970 and this relocation inspired a significant shift in his work towards brighter colours and a more ‘Turneresque’ rendition of landscape subjects. Lewes Crescent, the subject of the present painting, is a street close to the artist’s studio located on Marine Parade, a grand apartment block overlooking Brighton Pier and the English Channel.
In 1987 Creffield was commissioned by the Arts Council to produce a series of charcoals depicting Medieval English cathedrals. These works reveal Creffield’s ability to illustrate both the visible and intuitive aspects of his subject through spontaneous and energetic handling of the medium. The resulting exhibition, English Cathedrals, opened in Winchester in 1988 and toured the country ending in London at the Camden Arts Centre in 1990. Creffield’s output is by no means restricted solely to landscape painting but also included still life and portraiture. His portraits once again looked back to a historical past including studies of works by Vermeer and Lange or his own self-portraits dressed as Lord Nelson. These imaginative visions combined with his technical and stylistic facility are summed by R.B. Kitaj who described Creffield as ‘one of England's most closely guarded secrets'.
Creffield’s work is included in numerous public collections, including Tate, The British Museum, the Arts Council Collection, the Government Art Collection, The House of Commons, the Imperial War Museum, the National Trust Collection and The Ruth Borchard Collection. Many of his works are included in A David Bomberg Legacy – The Sarah Rose Collection and have also been gifted to museums through the Contemporary Art Society from the bequest of the late private collector M.M. Lapsley.
During his years at Borough Creffield developed a particular proclivity towards both painting and drawing, exploring manifold subjects. Creffield’s affinity to the English landscape is evident in his extensive production of large scale studies and panoramas, depicting subjects ranging from the urban centres of London and Leeds to the cathedral towns of Canterbury and Exeter. Creffield settled in Brighton in 1970 and this relocation inspired a significant shift in his work towards brighter colours and a more ‘Turneresque’ rendition of landscape subjects. Lewes Crescent, the subject of the present painting, is a street close to the artist’s studio located on Marine Parade, a grand apartment block overlooking Brighton Pier and the English Channel.
In 1987 Creffield was commissioned by the Arts Council to produce a series of charcoals depicting Medieval English cathedrals. These works reveal Creffield’s ability to illustrate both the visible and intuitive aspects of his subject through spontaneous and energetic handling of the medium. The resulting exhibition, English Cathedrals, opened in Winchester in 1988 and toured the country ending in London at the Camden Arts Centre in 1990. Creffield’s output is by no means restricted solely to landscape painting but also included still life and portraiture. His portraits once again looked back to a historical past including studies of works by Vermeer and Lange or his own self-portraits dressed as Lord Nelson. These imaginative visions combined with his technical and stylistic facility are summed by R.B. Kitaj who described Creffield as ‘one of England's most closely guarded secrets'.
Creffield’s work is included in numerous public collections, including Tate, The British Museum, the Arts Council Collection, the Government Art Collection, The House of Commons, the Imperial War Museum, the National Trust Collection and The Ruth Borchard Collection. Many of his works are included in A David Bomberg Legacy – The Sarah Rose Collection and have also been gifted to museums through the Contemporary Art Society from the bequest of the late private collector M.M. Lapsley.
