Peter Arthur Hutchinson (born 1930) is a British-born artist living in the United States. Hutchinson is one of the pioneers of the

Land Art Land art, variously known as Earth art, environmental art, and Earthworks, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, largely associated with Great Britain and the United StatesArt in the modern era: A guide to styles, schools, & mov ...

movement. He is also considered a narrative and mixed media, conceptual artist. Along his photo-collages, he uses of gouache,

woad ''Isatis tinctoria'', also called woad (), dyer's woad, or glastum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard family) with a documented history of use as a blue dye and medicinal plant. Its genus name, Isatis, derives from ...

, and handwritten texts which reveal his playful wit and prioritization of subjective experience as an important part of his artworks.

Biography

A native of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, Hutchinson moved to the United States in 1952 and received his BFA in painting from the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

in 1960. In 1981 he moved to

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Provincet ...

, where he still lives. Hutchinson has received grants from the

Pollock-Krasner Foundation The Pollock-Krasner Foundation was established in 1985 for the purpose of providing financial assistance to individual working artists of established ability. It was established at the bequest of Lee Krasner, who was an American abstract expression ...

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

, and The Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Foundation. His artwork is in museum collections including the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

, and the

Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...

in Basel.

Artistic style

Hutchinson is known for his photo-based conceptual artworks in which he documents his ephemeral interventions on the landscape itself. These interventions often utilize flowers, food, and found objects to interact with the landscape, including the ocean, mountains, fields, beaches, volcanoes, icebergs, deserts, and other natural environments. Photographs of these interventions are accompanied by handwritten text describing the work, along with the date that the work occurred. Although sometimes, as a witty pun, the date on the work itself is not the date when it was actually realized (see example on Wikimedia Commons.) Hutchinson was inspired by early landscape painting and garden art, explained in part by his English roots, and also by his early interest in plant genetics. He often focuses on subjects about relationship between humans, animals, and nature and observes processes and changes, such as ecological systems of growth and decay in nature. In his biographical notes to his exhibit of 1977 (Selected Works 1968-1977), Hutchinson documented an example of such early work at the Paricutin volcano in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

where, in 1970, he laid a 100-yard line of bread along faults at the crater edge. This bread was used to grow mold over a 6-day period with the change in color visible from photos of the volcano taken from the air. Hutchinson also used palindromes in his work “Step on no pets” in 1973, and “God saw I was Dog, Dog saw I was God” in 1976, set of 5 color and black and white photographs, a piece in the permanent collections of the Musée National d’Art Moderne,

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

, in Paris, France.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

* 2019 Peter Hutchinson: Landscapes of My Life, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA, USA * 2015 “Peter Hutchinson”, Fonds Regional d’Art Contemporain (FRAC) Bretagne, Rennes, France * 2009 “Peter Hutchinson - Erträumte Paradiese / Dreamed Paradises” (fifty-year review of work), Arp Museum, Rolandseck, Germany * 2001 Thrown Ropes Remagen, Arp Museum Rolandseck,

Rolandseck Rolandseck is a borough in the town of Remagen in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The place consists almost entirely of villas and is a favorite summer resort. Crowning the vine-clad hills behind it lie the ruins of the castle, a picturesque iv ...

, Germany

Selected Group Exhibits

* 2022 “Vous êtes ici” at the Centre d'Art Contemporain de Pontmain (CNAP), Pontmain, France* * * 2018 “A propos du Land Art” at the Fonds Regional d’Art Contemporain (FRAC) Limousin, Limoges, France * 2016 “Sublime. The Tremors of the World” at the Centre Pompidou Metz, France * 2014 “Bad Thoughts, Collection Martijn and Jeannette Sanders” at the

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

, Netherlands * 2012 “Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974” at the MOCA Los Angeles, CA * 2003 “Look, it’s snowing (Schizogeography of Everyday Life)” at the International Center for Art and Landscape, Isle of Vassivière, France * 2001 “About Face: Selections from the Department of Prints and Illustrated Books” at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY * 1999 “Sight Gags: Grotesque, Caricature and Wit in Modern and Contemporary Drawings” at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY * 1991 “Unnatural Attitudes” at the International Center for Art and Landscape (Centre National d’Art et du Paysage - Vassivière et Limousin), Isle of Vassivière, France * 1986 “Naked/Nude: Contemporary Prints” at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY * 1976 “Photography for Collectors” at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY * 1976 “The Golden Door: Artist-Immigrants of America, 1876-1976”

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was des ...

* 1975 “Collectors of the Seventies, Part I: Dorothy and Herbert Vogel” at MoMA PS1, New York, NY * 1975 “Artists Make Toys” at MoMA PS1, New York, NY * 1973 “Recent Acquisitions, 1968–1973” at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY

Museum Collections

* Academy Art Museum,

Easton, Maryland Easton is an incorporated town in and the county seat of Talbot County, Maryland, United States. The population was 15,945 at the 2010 census, with an estimated population in 2019 of 16,671. The primary ZIP Code is 21601, and the secondary ...

Cedar Rapids Museum of Art The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art is a museum in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. The museum is privately owned and was established in 1905. The museum acquired the old Cedar Rapids Public Library building after the library moved into a new ...

Cedar Rapids Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

Daum Museum of Contemporary Art State Fair Community College is a public community college in Sedalia, Missouri, adjacent to the Missouri State Fairgrounds. In addition to the Sedalia campus, there are extended campus locations in Boonville, Lake of the Ozarks, Clinton, Wars ...

Sedalia, Missouri Sedalia is a city located approximately south of the Missouri River and, as the county seat of Pettis County, Missouri, United States, it is the principal city of the Sedalia Micropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had ...

Joslyn Art Museum The Joslyn Art Museum is the principal fine arts museum in the state of Nebraska, United States. Located in Omaha, it was opened in 1931 at the initiative of Sarah H. Joslyn in memory of her husband, businessman George A. Joslyn. It is the only m ...

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

, Nebraska *

Mississippi Museum of Art The Mississippi Museum of Art is a public museum in Jackson, Mississippi. It is the largest museum in Mississippi. Location It is located at the corner of 380 South Lamar Street and 201 East Pascagoula Street in Jackson, Mississippi.Lee Ellis, ''F ...

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...

* Musée National d’Art Moderne,

, Paris, France * Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA * Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY, USA * National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA * Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA *

Plains Art Museum The Plains Art Museum is a fine arts museum located in downtown Fargo, North Dakota, United States. History The history of the museum dates back to 1965 when the "Red River Art Center" opened in the former Moorhead, Minnesota, post office. The n ...

Fargo, North Dakota Fargo ( /ˈfɑɹɡoʊ/) is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, North Dakota, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 125,990, making it the most populous city in the state and the 219th-most populous city in ...

Portland Museum of Art The Portland Museum of Art, or PMA, is the largest and oldest public art institution in the U.S. state of Maine. Founded as the Portland Society of Art in 1882. It is located in the downtown area known as The Arts District in Portland, Maine. Hi ...

, Portland, Maine *

Spencer Museum of Art The Spencer Museum of Art is an art museum operated by the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Spencer Museum seeks to "...present its collection as a living archive that motivates object-c ...

, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS * The Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA *

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...

Weisman Art Museum The Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum is an art museum at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1934 as University Gallery, the museum was originally housed in an upper floor of the university's Northrop Auditorium. In 19 ...

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

* Whitney Museum of American Art

Bibliography

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutchinson, Peter 1930 births Living people University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign School of Art and Design alumni Land artists People from Provincetown, Massachusetts Artists from Massachusetts Artists from London