Peter Booth (born 2 November 1940) is an Australian figurative and a surrealist painter, and one of the key late-20th-century Australian artists. His work is characterised by an intense emotional power of often dark narratives, and esoteric symbolism.

Life

Booth was born the son of a doctor of metallurgy, and industrial surrounds of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

influenced him from an early age. He and his family migrated to Australia in 1958, where he worked as a labourer for several years before attending the

National Gallery School The National Gallery of Victoria Art School, associated with the National Gallery of Victoria, was a private fine arts college founded in 1867 and was Australia's leading art school of 50 years. It is also referred to as the 'National Gallery ...

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. In the 1980s Booth started his phase of horrifying figures, for example mutilated bodies and war scenes (sometimes with a light touch of humour), yet he always conveys a strong feeling in his art. It is even possible to almost feel what the main "character" is feeling. This also reflects his dreams as some of his works are based upon dreams, which could also categorise him as a surrealist painter.

Work

Booth's subject matter largely concerns the Australian landscape, both urban and rural, and the relationship between environment and individual, as well as the individual's capacity to create and destroy. And also what the world will be like in the future, humans as mutants. Booth's landscapes are charged with emotion and symbolic meaning. Memories of his childhood in the blackened industrial landscape of Sheffield seem to infuse the work, especially his well-known apocalyptic figurative paintings, which look like images of the end of the world; illustrations for

The Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of R ...

. These images contain an intense image of anxiety, evoking the aftermath of some terrible destruction, vividly pictured with menacing forms and agitated, heavily applied brushstrokes. An example is ''Painting 1978'' which has been described as challenging and disturbing the viewer by the artist's choice of colour and method of painting. "The dramatic black and red, yellow and white composition suggests both an industrial and a natural wasteland". The heavy impasto paint texture describes, with vigour and intensity, flames, explosions, and unidentified nightmarish images. Contradictory forces pull us into the central inferno below the glacial mountain peaks, and showers of rock explode towards us. Is it the artist himself who stands with his back to us, mesmerised by the scene, while grotesque metamorphosing figures stare out at us?"http://www.nga.gov.au/Federation/Detail.cfm?WorkID=60888 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Peter Booth has centred many of his paintings around his childhood in Sheffield England where he grew up during the war years and their aftermath. A majo
retrospective exhibition
of Peter Booth's work was held at the Ian Potter Centre:

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

during November 2003 to February 2004.

References

External links

Peter Booth on Artabase
* Jason Smith, ''Peter Booth'', National Gallery Victoria, 2006.

– 2003 ''

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'' article
''Painting 1978''
–

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Peter Australian painters 1940 births Living people Australian contemporary artists Neo-expressionist artists English emigrants to Australia Artists from Sheffield National Gallery of Victoria Art School alumni