Patrick Heron - Heron's Writing On Art and Art Education

Heron's Writing On Art and Art Education

Patrick Heron's writing about art began when in 1945 he was invited by Philip Mairet, the editor of The New English Weekly to contribute to the journal. His first published article was on Ben Nicholson, followed by essays on Picasso, Klee, Cézanne and Braque. Two years later he became art critic of the New Statesman until 1950. He became London correspondent to Arts Digest, New York (later renamed Arts(NY)). The Changing Forms of Art, a selection of his criticism was published in 1955. A further selection of writings, edited by Mel Gooding, was published in 1998 to coincide with his Tate Gallery retrospective exhibition

In 1966, 1968 and 1970 he published a series of articles in Studio International questioning the perceived ascendancy of American artists. His final essay on the subject was in a closely worded article of some 14,000 words published over a period of three days in The Guardian in October 1974.

He defended the independence and autonomy of the English Art Schools, resisting their integration into the polytechnic system. The publication of his article 'Murder of the art schools' in The Guardian in 1971 precipitated an enormous correspondence over a period of six weeks. The article was reprinted in Patrick Heron on Art and Education, published by Bretton Hall Wakefield to coincide with presentation of Honorary Fellowship of Bretton Hall, University of Leeds and a one man show of gouaches.