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Patrick Heron

(1920-1999), Painter and art critic

Sitter in 14 portraits
Artist of 5 portraits
Born in Leeds, Heron spent much of his childhood in Cornwall and studied at the Slade in London (1937-9). A conscientious objector, he worked as an agricultural labourer and then at the Leach Pottery, St Ives. His first mature painting dates from 1943, with his first solo exhibition in 1947. In 1945-6 he wrote for the New English Weekly and was art critic for the New Statesman and Nation (1947-54). Among his most influential writing is The Changing Forms of Art, published 1955, when his work became predominantly abstract. In 1956 he bought Eagles Nest in Zennor, Cornwall, where his family had lived in the late 1920s. The house became a centre for artists and writers in St Ives and central to all Heron's work.

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T.S. Eliot, by Patrick Heron - NPG 4467

T.S. Eliot

by Patrick Heron
oil on canvas, 1949
NPG 4467

Herbert Read, by Patrick Heron - NPG 4654

Herbert Read

by Patrick Heron
oil on canvas, 1950
On display in Room 31 at the National Portrait Gallery
NPG 4654

Patrick Heron, by Patrick Heron - NPG 6540

Patrick Heron

by Patrick Heron
oil on canvas, 1951
On display in Room 31 at the National Portrait Gallery
NPG 6540

A.S. Byatt, by Patrick Heron - NPG 6414a

A.S. Byatt

by Patrick Heron
charcoal, 1995
NPG 6414a

A.S. Byatt (Portrait of A S Byatt : Red, Yellow, Green and Blue : 24 September 1997), by Patrick Heron - NPG 6414

A.S. Byatt (Portrait of A S Byatt : Red, Yellow, Green and Blue : 24 September 1997)

by Patrick Heron
oil on canvas, 1997
NPG 6414

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