First published to accompany the exhibition, John Golding: Pure Colour
Sensation at Piano Nobile gallery, this fully color illustrated catalog
showcases fifteen years of exceptional paintings by John Golding.
Although an acclaimed art historian, Golding considered himself, first
and foremost, a painter. His work features in prominent institutions
such as the Tate, MoMA, the Scottish National Gallery, the British
Council, and the Yale Center for British Art. Golding had numerous
one-man shows in the UK and abroad, and also participated in many group
exhibitions including international shows with his close friend Bridget
Riley. He was appointed a CBE in 1992 and elected a Fellow of the
British Academy in 1994. The publication presents a survey of works from
the 1970s and 1980s, ranging from large scale canvases to both small and
large pastels. Golding's work, although abstract, repeatedly returns to
the human body. The monumental canvases and the tactile handling of
paint through expressive layering of pigment demand a visceral physical
reaction from the viewer. Speaking in an interview for Artists' Lives,
Golding recollected that his turn to abstraction was in "recognition of
what was happening in America in the 1950s...the most important thing
going on in painting [of the day]." In his abstract paintings, both
intimate and large in scale, Golding sought unadulterated formal
brilliance, letting color and composition take prominence, "so that
there is nothing getting between you and the pure color sensation."
Dr David Anfam's introductory essay explores the roots of Golding's
abstract work in the early figurative painting he produced whilst living
in Mexico. Analyzing the influence of the great Mexican muralists during
Golding's formative years, Anfam charts the progression of Golding's
vision that culminated in the exceptionally accomplished and joyful body
of the work produced in the 1970s and 1980s and reproduced in this
publication.
