Patrick Heron 1920-1999
Cobalt Arrow in Brown, 1967
gouache on arches paper
22½ x 30 ins
signed, titled and dated verso



Heron’s work has transformed itself throughout his career in a way that moves forward radically, yet with a sense of organic development. Each stage is formed from the ideas previously explored, but becomes a new and fresh interpretation.

The paintings of the 1960’s demonstrate a transformation equal to those seen in the preceding two decades. The forms which in the paintings of the 1961-3 period float across areas of strong, pure, colour begin to recede into the same picture plane as the background, the tension and recession between the forms being realised by the power of the colours themselves and the relative weights given to them, rather than by the paint handling. For Heron, the medium of gouache was an important element of this transformation of his art, being ideally suited to a style which seeks to retain the individual colour strengths, but which by its fluidity allows for a certain level of leaching of colour between areas and thus begins to blur the outlines. This balancing of the surface was further explored in his screen-printed work of the period, as is seen in the Winchester Four, I-IV suite of 1967.