6. FACTS OF LIFE
Taylor's life is enigmatic.
BIRTH:
In spite of Penwith and other catalogues giving Yorkshire as his place of birth, the (3nd) marriage certificate in the 'mairie' of Prunt-et- Belpuig states that he was born on 26th Janyary 1921 in Salford. Although registered as 'Arthur Taylor' he was known as Bruce Taylor by the time he arrived in St Ives.
Taylor married his third wife Judith Medlycott (born at Sleaford, on 24th February 1944) on 27th January 1979.
They moved from Mas Fourtou to Taulis soon after, where the mayor helped them find a house in the village.
MILITARY SERVICE:
Taylor served in the air force from 1941 to 1946. He was part of the offensive force sent to Germany. The experience of death at the front and of liberating a concentration camp marked him deeply and turned him into a pacifist.
A traumatic experience he bottled up and refused to talk about to his family afterwards.
A traumatic experience he bottled up and refused to talk about to his family afterwards.
EDUCATION:
After the war, for a while, Taylor worked as an entomologist at Halifax Museum, then went to Corsham Academy of Art in Bath (as a mature student), to study on the certificate in art education course, from September 1950 to July 1952.
On the course, he met Jennifer, eight years his junior, whom he married.
The presence at Corsham of artists from St Ives may have inspired him to move to Cornwall in 1956.
In Corsham, Taylor was probably taught by or exposed to the works of Kenneth Armitage, who taught there from 1946 to 1956.
Janet Simpson posted her reminiscences on the alumni web site for the period 1950-54, when she was at Corsham. The list of staff is impressive:
'Most memorable were the staff of that era: Rosemary & Clifford Ellis of course (with daughters Penelope & Charlotte) and William Brooker, William Scott, Bryan Wynter, Tony Fry, Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon, Kenneth Armitage, Harry Cliffe, James Tower, Peter Potworowski, Margaret Lester-Garland, Andrew Wilson, Stephen Russ, Bill Turnbull'.
Reminiscing about 1950, alumno Pam Pebworth wrote:
'The Corsham experience was so rich, the well known painters and sculptors from London and St.Ives who came to teach us were William Scott, Bryan Wynter, Peter Lanyon, Ken Armitage and Bernard Meadows. And not to be forgotten, Andrew Wilson tall and austere encouraging us to improve our handwriting in the Marion Richardson style. And then there was the fun, end of terms parties with various themes, Waistcoats, Dogs and Mexico.'
Rosamund Gilbert (Osbourn) rembers: '
the wonderful house and its setting, the cycle rides from Monks Hall and the army huts in which we lived, the library full of fantastic art books, tutors such as Peter Lanyon, William Scott, Litz Pisk, Isabelle Symons, Helen Binyon, James Kirkup, Colin Thompson, Peter Potworowska and, of course, Clifford and Rosemary Ellis.
Particularly vivid memories include tea-time Marmite sandwiches at Corsham Court, stretching and dancing in black leotards on the lawns at Monks Hall and sketching each other according to Litz Pisk's directions. I also remember waiting on the platform of Bath railway station, for a train home to the north of England, and hearing an announcement of the death of Stalin.'.
Photographs of the sculpture school from 1959-60, as well as student Bruce Clark's remarks, gives some indication of the type of work students were engaged in:'"We worked in metal with John Hoskin, clay & plaster with Michael Werner and stone, wood & wax with Peter Startup".
Another set of photographs of Corsham suggests that carving was a major (if not the main) form of sculpture practiced by students at Corsham.
AFTER CORSHAM
A photograph of 'biological models for Halifax Museum' , inscribed by Jennifer Taylor (?) carries the address:
A.B. Taylor
5a Honeycroft,
Welwyn Garden City
Herts.'
During that period, it would seem that Taylor taught in a school and lived in a caravan park with his wife and later their first child, Penny.
PROFESSIONAL LIFE: ST IVES (1956-1966) AND AFTER:
The Taylors arrived in St Ives in 1956. [This is also the date of Bruce's first participation to an art exhibition].
The following year he was elected chairman of the Penwith Society, and from then on he regularly exhibited with the Society; till he left St Ives, in 1965.
During the ten years Taylor spent in St Ives (with a brief period away in Painswick), he was an active member of the Penwith Society and seems to have spread his time and energy between making art, exhibiting, teaching and helping organize exhibitions.
In 1958 he took a six month sabbatical from his teaching post to prepare his first solo show at the Drian Gallery.
In 1958 he took a six month sabbatical from his teaching post to prepare his first solo show at the Drian Gallery.
The minutes of the general meeting of the Penwith Society, dated 10th June 1957, with Denis Mitchell 'acting chair', lists Taylor and his friend Brian Wall as member of the hanging committee for sculpture.
[Alex Mackenzie, Patrick Heron, Kate Nicholson and Trevor Bell had the same responsibility for painting].
Taylor owned a studio with living accomodation at 36 Fore Street, that he lent for the exhibitions of the Penwith Society. Besides doing his own work, Bruce ran pottery courses for children and adults and also 'taught at Treswithian Secondary School, Camborne, in the late 1950s', as his pupil Michael Dennis kindly reminisced. His studio was also used to run lithographic workshops.
In 1957 he sold a house, 'Heights' at Consols, to fellow artist Dorothy Bordas. Roy Conn rented a house from the Taylors soon after they arrived in St Ives.
In 1961 the family moved to Painswick, where Jennifer's aging mother lived (to look after her). Fellow artist Paul Francis recalls doing some gardening work for them, whilst they renovated an old house, 'King's Mill' ? or soon after they moved to 'Old Weaven' (?).
Bill Bordass [D. Bordass son] recalls that during the two years Taylor spent in Painwick, he may have taught at Cheltenham College of Art.
During that period Taylor exhibited at Arnolfini (Bristol) in the group show 'Art from Cornwall' with Wilhelmina Barnes-Graham, Michael Broido, Bob Crossley, Roger Leigh, Alexander Mackenzie, Denis Mitchell, Simon Nicholson, Tom Pearce, Jack Pender and Tony Shiels.
In 1962 he exhibited in 19 Young Sculptors (organized by Gloucestershire County Council), in Hillfield Gardens, Gloucester (1962), alongside Lynn Chadwick.
Feeling that he needed to be in Cornwall to be creative, the family moved back to Cornwall, with some reluctance, in 1963. At Towednack he built a studio where he could cast small bronzes. It was there that he packed the wood sculpture acquired by MOMA (New York), and where he may have spent his most productive years as an artist.
Between 1963 and 1966 he exhibited three times at Arnolfini (two group and one solo show). During that period he also exhibited in St Ives with the Penwith Society.
EXHIBITIONS Raisonnées
The catalogue of the Penwith Society of Arts touring exhibition, organized by the Arts Council in 1957, shows that Taylor exhibited four works under the three categories of Paintings and Drawings, Sculpture and Pottery; and was the only artist to do so.
During the following year, he exhibited 11 drawings, 11 sculptures and 5 'ceramic pieces' at his first solo show at the the Drian Gallery, in London (9th-26th April 1958). Later on, that year, he exhibited 8 pieces at part of the 4 Sculptors 2 Painters' group exhibition (1-9 July).
The catalogues of the Penwith Society exhibitions in St Ives show that he regularly contributed works, but lack of photographic and related evidence (including sizes) and the ambiguity of titles do not enable us to match the known works with their title, nor to establish a chronological sequence for the work I have gathered.
It seems that Taylor worked concurrently in welded steel and bronze; for his studio at Towednack had facilities for casting small pieces by the lost wax process.
See section on the right listing all the known works >
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