Work by

Bryan Pearce

Bryan Pearce was born with the rare genetic condition, phenylketonuria (PKU) which, if untreated, can lead to brain damage.  He was originally encouraged to draw and paint by his mother Mary Pearce for its therapeutic effect and went on to develop a characteristic style comprising a steep perspective, bold outlining, and flat, bright colours. His subjects were always closely observed, most often the buildings and boats of St Ives and the surrounding countryside.

Some of Bryan’s most unique images are his ‘all around’ paintings of St Ives harbour.  He began to paint these works early in his career and there is no way of knowing why he should suddenly have decided to draw the town as if it was being observed from above, turning his board as he worked on the painting although the boats in the harbour are always painted ‘the right way up’.

Bryan started painting, producing early watercolours which are a far cry from the confident oil paintings he would produce only a few years later on.  He studied at the St Ives School of Painting under Leonard Fuller between 1953 and 1957 and joined the Penwith Society in 1957 and the Newlyn Society in 1959.  In the 1957, Bryan was paining from a studio facing Market Place in St Ives with views over the church tower and Smeaton’s Pier and often included part of the church tower in his pictures. 

Bryan’s work began to be shown more widely being included in the Fourth John Moore Exhibition in Liverpool as well as several exhibitions in London.  Bryan also visited Cambridge, staying with Jim Ede’s at Kettles Yard and painted the Round Church and King’s College Chapel. 

In the 1970s, Bryan moved to the newly built Piazza flats which provided a new panoramic scene of Clodgy and Man’s Head to the west and St Ives’ iconic Island topped with St Nicholas Chapel to the east and later took over a Porthmeor Studio, below the School of Painting. 

Bryan had a series of major one-man shows in London, Falmouth, Plymouth, Bath, and St Ives. Marion Whybrow wrote the book Bryan Pearce: A Private View

Bryan’s mother, Mary died and Bryan continued to work with great energy in both oil paintings and conte drawings. The book Bryan Pearce: The Artist and his Work by Janet Axten was published. With a large number of illustrations, it contained a catalogue raisonee of Bryan’s work to date.