University of Plymouth PEARL https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk 04 University of Plymouth Research Theses 01 Research Theses Main Collection 2015 JOHN HOYLAND: THE MAKING AND SUSTAINING OF A CAREER - 1960-82 Davies, Christopher Anthony http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/5139 Plymouth University All content in PEARL is protected by copyright law. Author manuscripts are made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author. JOHN HOYLAND: THE MAKING AND SUSTAINING OF A CAREER - 1960-82 By CHRISTOPHER ANTHONY DAVIES Volume 1: Thesis A thesis submitted to Plymouth University in partial fulfilment for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Art & Humanities Doctoral Training Centre June 2015 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the author’s prior consent Contents Volume 1: Thesis Introduction pp.1-6 Chapter 1: The Art Infrastructure and the Making of Careers pp.7-40 Chapter 2: Work pp.41-97 Chapter 3: Public Exposure and Critical Reception in the United Kingdom PP.98-153 Chapter 4: Public Exposure and Critical Reception Overseas pp.154-183 Chapter 5: Private and Institutional Recognition pp.184-240 Conclusion pp.241-244. Volume 2: Images, Appendices and Bibliography Illustrations 1. List of illustrations – pp.1-7 2. Illustrations – pp.8-46 Appendices Appendix 1: British Corporate Collections 1966 - p.47 Appendix 2: 1977 Hayward Annual - Press Reviews and Letters - pp.48-50 Appendix 3: Art for Whom? - p.51 Appendix 4: Sales, Purchases, and Gifted works: John Hoyland, 1960-1982 - pp.52-59 Appendix 5: Peter Stuyvesant British Art Collection 1965 - pp.59-62 Appendix 6: Appendix 6: Works by John Hoyland in Public Collections in the United Kingdom – pp.62-77 Appendix 7: Arts Council List of Purchasers 1958-1972 - p.76 Appendix 8: Artists showing in the British Council British Pavilion in Venice 1960-1982 - pp.77-78 Appendix 9: Exhibition Record and Work in UK Public Collections: Gillian Ayres, Bernard Cohen, Robyn Denny, Paul Huxley, Albert Irvin, John Plumb, Bridget Riley, Michael Tyzack, and Marc Vaux – pp.79-98 Bibliography Bibliography: pp.98-122 i Abstract JOHN HOYLAND: THE MAKING AND SUSTAINING OF A CAREER - 1960-82 by CHRISTOPHER ANTHONY DAVIES June 2015 The thesis explores the making and sustaining of the career of the English abstract artist, John Hoyland from his inclusion in the seminal Situation exhibition of 1960 to his winning the John Moores First (Purchase Prize) in 1982. It investigates the institutional and critical contexts that supported Hoyland’s rise to prominence in the 1960s and situates him within the art world of the time: its galleries, exhibitions, advocates, dealers, critics, patrons and collectors (public and private). It notes the improvements to the art infrastructure in the United Kingdom and assesses whether these improvements had any impact on Hoyland’s career. Careful analytical attention is paid to the work of John Hoyland and how his work was presented to numerous audiences and critically received. Hoyland’s career is considered in relation to the changes in art practice both in the United Kingdom and the United States during these two decades, and the challenges that these changes in practice and fashion through up, The thesis examines John Hoyland’s early career with these critical and institutional contexts in mind. It considers the challenges he faced throughout the 1970s to sustain a professional career and offers reasons to explain why his trajectory towards professional success was neither smooth nor consistent. The thesis explores the correlation between art production, art markets, critical reception and acclaim, and commercial success. The fundamental question that this thesis seeks to answer is whether whatever recognition Hoyland’s work received was solely because of its quality or whether there is an element of Hoyland being buoyed up by the system and promoted with more enthusiasm than was merited - as American critics suggested – and thus being to some extent a product of these institutional forces. The mapping and analysis of John Hoyland’s early career contributes to similar inquiries concerning how careers are made and sustained in the visual arts. The thesis works with the established models used to explore this process and offers some adaptations of them. ii AUTHOR’S DECLARATION At no time during the registration for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy has the author been registered for any other University award without prior agreement of the Graduate Committee. Work submitted for this research degree at the Plymouth University has not formed part of any other degree either at Plymouth University or at another establishment. A programme of advanced study was undertaken, which included research visits to the British Library, the Tate Gallery, the Whitechapel Art Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Archives. Archives were accessed and formed a major part of the thesis. Of great importance was being granted access to the archival material at John Hoyland Studio Ltd. Electronic communications with national and international institutions formed part of the research process. Relevant art history seminars and conferences were regularly attended at which work was presented. Word count of main body of thesis: 80,431 Signed Date: 1 June 2015 iii Acknowledgements The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without the support I received from a number of individuals and institutions. I owe a particular debt to Professor Sam Smiles, whose constant advice, knowledge and support enabled me to complete the thesis on time. My thanks to Pauline; Beverley Heath-Hoylan; Wizz J Patterson Kelly, Emma Lilley, (Hoyland Studio Ltd); Gary Haines, Archivist, Whitechapel Art Gallery; staff at Tate Gallery Archives; Rebecca Atkins, Librarian, Graduate School, Bath Spa University; staff at Bath Spa University Library(Sion Hill); Nikki Frater; and Tim Batchelor, DTC Administrator, Arts & Humanities Doctoral Training Centre, Graduate School, Plymouth University. iv Introduction This thesis explores the making and consolidation of the career of the English non- figurative painter, John Hoyland from the commencement of his professional art career in 1960 when his painting was included in the seminal Situation exhibition to his winning the John Moores First Prize (Purchase Prize) in 1982. The principal reason for undertaking this research is to extend the body of knowledge and provide a deeper understanding of Hoyland and his work. By carefully analysing his oeuvre and connecting his artistic output to commercial considerations, and the wider art world, a more accurate account of John Hoyland, the professional artist, emerges. There is a reasonable quantity of literature on John Hoyland. Three monographs on him were published in his lifetime, two by Mel Gooding and one by Andrew Lambirth1, the last being in 2009. In addition, numerous journal articles, reviews and catalogue essays and transcripts of interviews with Hoyland provide the materials for an account of his critical reception to be constructed. However, each of the three monographs was intended for general readership, presenting Hoyland’s work in an ordered, chronological manner. Although this thesis recognises the contribution made by both authors to understanding Hoyland and his work, their publications tend to be descriptive rather than analytical. For example, in their assessment of Hoyland’s work each painting is given equal weight and there is a lack of critical edge in the appraisal of his output. Gooding and Lambirth knew Hoyland and there is a tendency, because of this closeness, for each author to forego the critical distance that would subject the work to rigorous examination. The first monograph by Gooding was financially supported by Hoyland’s dealer, Leslie Waddington, and Gooding’s second publication was dedicated to members of Hoyland’s family. Such relationships necessarily affected how exacting a critique could be offered. 1 The three publications were, Gooding, M. John Hoyland, London: John Taylor in association with Lund Humphries, 1990; Gooding, M. John Hoyland, London: Thames & Hudson, 2006; and Lambirth, A. Scatter the Devils, Norwich: 2009 1 This thesis adopts a different approach and aims to be more balanced in its judgements. It acknowledges that not all of the work that came out of Hoyland’s studio was either exemplary or fully resolved. Because of Hoyland’s approach towards his craft, one of constant experimentation, inevitably there were failures as well as successes. The principal motivation behind this thesis is to show how Hoyland’s career was made and in particular, it explores the relationship between the aesthetic and the commercial. Earlier accounts of Hoyland concentrated on biographical details and on his work in general and largely ignored or merely touched upon his relationship with the art market and the theoretical discourses accounting for the ascription of value, as played out in aesthetic and commercial reckonings. This thesis redresses this position by demonstrating how Hoyland’s career success can be situated within a more subtle and nuanced account of the critical and institutional contexts he negotiated. To achieve this, it aims to identify, quantify and analyse the factors that assisted in the making of Hoyland’s career. Notwithstanding this intention, the thesis does not proffer a deterministic account; it accepts that there are intangible factors, for instance, timing and simple good fortune, which are difficult to quantify but which clearly played a part in Hoyland’s success. Instead of viewing the tangible factors or determinants in isolation the thesis recognises the inter-connectivity between them and endeavours to map them as a field of actual or potential influence on Hoyland’s career.