Putting the late Chichester artist Peter Iden "back in the picture"

The work of the late Chichester artist Peter Iden will be featured in a new exhibition.

Transcript

00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, group also designed at Sussex Newspapers. Now there's

00:06a very, very significant exhibition coming up, remembering a very significant Chichester

00:11painter, the late, much admired, much missed Peter Iden, who really did something very

00:17special in his focus on the South Downs. Great to know that there's going to be an exhibition

00:22at Champs Hill for three weeks in May, and it's curated by Simon Downham. Tell me, when

00:29you think about Peter's works, what makes them so special?

00:34Well thank you, Phil. So for me, Peter somehow manages to represent movement in a distinctive

00:48landscape. Peter's developed, I think, with brushstroke, with colour, with the use of

00:58a high horizon, a sense of narrow corridors of movement that draws us in, and represents

01:07to me an experience of seeing the Downs, of being in the Downs. And his remarkable visual

01:14language, I think, invites us to see again, to experience again, the South Downs, which

01:21was so precious to him.

01:24And in the 12, 13 years since he passed away, he has been, well, forgotten is probably not

01:29the right word, but as you say, this exhibition is about putting him back in the picture,

01:34isn't it?

01:37That's our hope. I mean, it's interesting that there's still a devoted local following.

01:42I'm told that prints and cards still sell at Pallant House, and that's because in their

01:49own right, they are striking visual images of the Downs, which people recognise instinctively.

01:57But partly because the remaining works, Mary Iden, who represents Peter's estate, his wife,

02:08his widow, has retained a vast number of the paintings that were left, particularly

02:17the later paintings. And so you just can't access them. So with Mary's agreement, and

02:25we're so thrilled about this, we've been able to choose 40 paintings from the estate store

02:36of Peter's later works.

02:38And to have them together would be brilliant, doesn't it?

02:42We think it's going to be spectacular. And again, that will, we hope, just remind people

02:52and perhaps capture a new audience, a new viewing audience. So that's our hope.

02:59And obviously, this is specifically about Peter, but more generally, it's very much

03:04in tune with what you do as a charitable trust, isn't it?

03:08Yes, that's our, again, that's our hope as a charitable trust with our art collection,

03:14the Bowman Collection. Our sort of strap line is privately collected British art for public

03:23enjoyment. And our hope is to create a greater access to Sussex-based artists, Sussex-themed

03:33art in particular. And really, again, we want to just create access to Peter's work.

03:40So yes, we're very hopeful that this will be entirely consistent with our Bowman Collection

03:48policies.

03:49It's a terrific thing to do. And 13 years after he passed away, the timing is terrific,

03:55isn't it? So good luck with the whole thing. It sounds super.

03:58Well, thank you.

03:58Thank you, Simon. Thank you.