Bernard Dejonghe ceramics, glass & Anthony Benjamin works on paper

3 - 25 September 2014

15 Royal Arcade28 Old Bond Street

London W1S 4SP

+44 (0) 20 7491 1706mail@erskinehallcoe.comwww.erskinehallcoe.com

Front and back covers:Bernard DejongheGrand Biface, 2013 (detail)optical glass41 x 30 x 23 cmBD-0019

Opposite:Anthony BenjaminSomebody Else’s Moon, 1990pencil on paper38 x 40 cmAB-0015

This exhibition brings together two artists that work in different media but share a common mastery of form, light and space. The ceramics and glass of Bernard Dejonghe (b.1942) merge the primitive and cerebral, and are rooted in his travels throughout North Africa. The drawings by Anthony Benjamin (1931-2002) date from a period when he set aside the vibrant colours of his earlier paintings and prints and took up soft pencils on fine linen paper.

“My forms are never narrative. I do not want them to symbolise anything. It’s an unusual thing in our culture that everything must have meaning. Maybe it is by this lack of meaning that they are meaningful.”

Bernard Dejonghe

“To rationalise my own work is easy, but I don’t want to rationalise it, for in rationalising it one seems to be led by what seems rational.”

Anthony Benjamin

Opposite:Bernard DejongheForme Noire, 2010stoneware53.7 x 49.8 x 34.5 cmBD-0009

Anthony BenjaminMagic Swirlin’ Ship, 1989

pencil on paper113 x 143 cm

AB-0003

Forme Noire, 2012stoneware

29 x 45 x 22 cmBD-0005

Forme Noire, 2012stoneware

29 x 45 x 22 cmBD-0005

Bernard Dejonghe

Forme Sombre, 2012stoneware21.5 x 32.8 x 20.5 cmBD-0006

Bernard Dejonghe

Forme Noire, 2011stoneware21 x 22 x 21 cmBD-0011

Boli Noir, 2012stoneware

27 x 51.5 x 25.7 cmBD-0008

Bernard Dejonghe

Forme Noire, 2011stoneware21 x 22 x 21 cmBD-0011

Title, datesize cmstock ref

Anthony BenjaminBlackbird Singing in the Dead of Night I, 1988

pencil on paper109 x 136 cm

AB-0004

Bernard DejongheTripode Noir, 2010

stoneware49.3 x 69 x 33.5 cm

BD-0010

Bernard Dejonghe

Forme Brève, 2012optical glass

29.5 x 28 x 20 cmBD-0015

Anthony BenjaminEye of Horus, 1991

pencil on paper74 x 99 cm

AB-0006

Bernard Dejonghe

Forme Brève, 2012optical glass20.5 x 17.5 x 16 cmBD-0013

Forme Brève, 2012optical glass

20.5 x 27 x 17 cmBD-0017

Anthony Benjamin Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night II, 1989, pencil on paper, 87 x 150 cm, AB-0005

Bernard Dejonghe(b.1942)

Born in Chantilly, France, Bernard Dejonghe studied at l’École des Métiers d’Art in Paris from 1960 to 1964, and then moved to Fontenay-aux-Roses in 1968, where he worked in Emile Decoeur’s former workshop until 1975.

Although he began his career as a ceramic artist, he would also explore the medium of glass.

He moved to Briançonnet, in the countryside of Nice in 1977, where he built his own workshop and a Japanese kiln which allowed him to wood-fire his work.

Since 1989, Dejonghe has travelled through the deserts of Mauritania, Algeria, Egypt, Chad, Sudan and Niger, where he explores the local geology and the artifacts of primitive life. He has also undertaken research with scientists of the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, exploring remote parts of these areas and searching for prehistoric human settlements. His travels and research have greatly influenced his artwork.

Dejonghe has been the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the National Grand Prize of the Ministry of Culture in Paris in 1995 and the Cultural Prize of the City of Bourges in 1996. Additionally, his work may be seen in many international public collections.

Selected Public Collections

Benaki Museum, Athens, GreeceCorning Museum, New York, USAHokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, JapanInternational Ceramic Museum, Faenza, ItalyInternational Ceramics Museum, Incheon, KoreaKurokabe Museum, Nagahama City, JapanMusée d’Art Contemporain, Nice, FranceMusée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, FranceMusée National de Céramique, Sèvres, FranceMuseum of Design, Turin, ItalyVictoria & Albert Museum, London, UK

Anthony Benjamin(1931-2002)

Born in Boarhunt, Hampshire, he began an apprenticeship in engineering at Southall Technical College and subsequently left to pursue his interest in art at the Regent Street Polytechnic in 1949. During this time, he spent three months studying drawing with Fernand Léger in Paris. Following his graduation in 1954, he worked in London and a year later moved to St Ives, where he developed a reputation as an abstract artist.

In 1956, Benjamin was approached by Peter Lanyon, who encouraged him to join the Newlyn Society, and he soon after had his first solo exhibition at the Newly Art Gallery. In the following year, he was awarded a French Government Fellowship for painting and printmaking and studied with W S Hayter at Atelier 17 in Paris. From 1960-61, he was in Rome on an Italian Government Fellowship.

From 1967, Benjamin worked as a fine art professor in institutions throughout North America. After returning to Britain in 1973, he worked as a printmaker and later began making a series of large drawings in graphite, followed by a group of brightly coloured canvases which he worked on until his death in 2002.

Selected Public Collections

Canada Council Art Bank, CanadaGlasgow Museum & Art Gallery, Glasgow, UKKestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover, GermanyMuseum of Contemporary Art, Nagaoka, JapanMuseum of Contemporary Art, Skopje, YugoslaviaMuseum of Modern Art, New York, USANational Museum of Art, Krakow, PolandNorwich Castle Museum, Norwich, UKThe Art Gallery of Western Australia, AustraliaThe Arts Council of Great BritainThe Tate Gallery, London, UK

Previous Spread:Bernard DejongheGrand Biface, 2013optical glass41 x 30 x 23 cmBD-0019

For more information about both of the artists, please visit our website.

The exhibition will be fully illustrated on our website www.erskinehallcoe.com/exhibitions/dejonghe-benjamin-2014

photography by Michael Harveydesign by fivefourandahalf

© Erskine, Hall & Coe Ltd, 2014

Gallery Opening Hours: Monday to Friday: 10am-6pm

Saturdays (during exhibitions only): 10am-6pm

Anthony BenjaminNameless Place, 1990

pencil on paper29 x 33 cm

AB-0017