Maison

Gerry Hunt

1st May 1927 – 16th October 2023

Gerry Hunt’s career parallels the development of contemporary art itself. Born in 1927, his progress as an artist reflects the major trends in art of the latter half of the twentieth century. This interest in the “Languages” of 20th Century painting can be seen clearly in his 1980’s publication, Some Principles and Practice of Twelve Modern Art Styles (Coracle Press, London) Despite the diverse nature of Hunt’s work, there is an overriding concern as to the balance between art and craft, between theoretical knowledge and practical execution. Taught by two founding members of the Euston Road School, Hunt’s training as an artist is very much rooted in the British tradition.

Hunt’s mature work is powerful and yet subtle; there are no jarring forms, no forced originality. The resulting work is engaging and poetic, the height of minimalist abstract expression.

Gerry Hunt studied at Camberwell School of Art and The Slade School of Fine Art. His teachers were the founders of the Euston Road School, a British Modern realist group formed in 1938 whose most famous member was William Coldstream then a Slade professor. Hunt later taught for many years at Camberwell and the Byam Shaw School of Art.

In 2003 he wrote:
In recent years I have started each painting with purely formal, open-ended, classical Abstract Expressionist intentions, until some sort of figurative scenario presents itself to me. Whereupon, with as little sacrifice as possible of the pure painting so far achieved, I encourage a believable real scene to emerge. When I drew with charcoal on paper, which is how I first became aware of this possibility in my work, it usually resulted in figures and/or animals, caught in some rather strange and sometimes funny ‘in between’ situations. Recently, with slowly increasing success, I have begun to achieve this in my paintings. In order to approach the technical simplicity of using just a stick of charcoal, as I do when I draw on paper, while using oil paint on canvas, I have restricted my palette to the three primary colours and white.

Solo Shows

2017 “Land Escapes” Paintings & works on paper, The Lovely Gallery, London

2014 Abstract Expressionist Drawing and Paintings, Jeannie Avent Gallery, London

2009 New Paintings, William Angel Gallery, London

2003 “Stills From Dreams” at the Cafe Gallery, Southwark Park.

1998 Drawings and Text, Ko Raw Gallery, London.

1996 ‘Eros 1’, Coventry Gallery, London

1993 Paintings and Drawings, Concourse Gallery, Byram Shaw.

1988 Camberwell School of Art, Metamorphic Drawings II

1986 Camberwell School of Art, Metamorphic Drawings I

1980 Expanded Moments, Coracle Press Gallery, London.

1968 Greenwich Theatre Gallery, ‘Perverse Perspective Paintings’

Group Shows

1999 Tate Gallery, Bankside Browser

1989 John Moores, Liverpool

1979 Verbiage, Kettles Yard, Cambridge

1977 Tolly-Cobbold Exhibition, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

1976 Monochromes. Institute of Contemporary Arts

1971 Reese Palley Gallery, New York

1965 John Moores, Liverpool

1964  London Group

1963 John Moores, Liverpool

1963 London Group

1961 London Group

1957 London Group