John Craxton: His Journey from Cranborne Chase to Crete
John Craxton: His Journey from Cranborne Chase to Crete
Lydia Wingfield-Digby discusses the life and art of John Craxton, exploring the influence of his long sojourns in Dorset where he was inspired by the local landscape, archaeology and artefacts from the nearby Pitt-Rivers Museum.
The talk follows Craxton’s journey from the war years, during which he remained in the UK, to his post-war travels across the continent to Crete. We discuss the liberation in Craxton’s use of colour, from his dark and brooding ink drawings of lonely poets in desolate Dorset landscapes to his vibrant oils depicting goats and shepherds in wild Mediterranean vistas under the sun-blushed Cretan skies.
