John Wells

(British 1907-2000)

Crystal from the Earth 27 x 25.4 cm. (10 5/8 x 10 in.)

Footnotes

Provenance
Mr Geoffrey Bayldon, by whom gifted to the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.

Exhibited
St Ives, Tate Gallery, The Fragile Cell, 2 May-1 November 1998, cat.no.14

Literature
Matthew Rowe, The Fragile Cell, Tate Gallery Publishing, St Ives, 1998, p.31, cat.no.14 (col.ill.)

'Here is a tremendous language capable of conveying elemental truths. Words cannot say these things' – John Wells

In the immediate post-war years John Wells was able to devote himself fully to his art for the first time and his slow, measured development is apparent in Crystal from the Earth (1946). In the accompanying catalogue to the Tate St Ives' 1998 exhibition The Fragile Cell, Matthew Rowe describes the present work, 'the device of placing an angular structure centrally within the composition evokes the same sensation of sailing boats as earlier paintings such as Untitled (1945). The lower section of the crystal possesses the gently curving 'hull', and the painted triangles that make up the body of the crystal can also be seen as sails or pennants. These references to former techniques are combined with a renewed interest in natural forms. The highly weathered texture of the surface of the painting augments the idea of a natural object being drawn from the subterranean depths of the earth and may prefigure the heavily scraped-back surfaces of Peter Lanyon's paintings – Prelude (1947), for example.' (Matthew Rowe, John Wells, The Fragile Cell, Tate Gallery Publishing, London, 1998).

The former owner of Crystal from the Earth was the actor Geoffrey Bayldon who enjoyed a long and decorated career both on the stage in the West End and for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) as well as in film and television, where he played the title role of the children's series Catweazle and the Crowman in Worzel Gummidge.