A Master of Form & Harmony

Denis Mitchell was one of the most loved and missed St Ives artists from the formative and influential post-war era, and we are thrilled to have two of his most impressive large bronzes in this sale.

Dennis Mitchell was born in 1912 in Wealdstone but moved to Wales when he was one year old. He had a happy, if somewhat frugal childhood in Mumbles but he always dreamt of becoming an artist. For the teenage Denis, a career in art did not seem possible in the impoverished post-war Britain of the 1920s, but despite having no formal qualifications, a job in a commercial art studio and his involvement with amateur dramatics at the Little Theatre in Swansea gave him a glimpse of the future he desired. His theatre work also introduced him to Dylan Thomas and they remained friends for many years.

_{Trecarn/Trecarnon, (1990) Bronze, 1 of 7}

The opportunity to move to Cornwall came at the end of the 1920s when Dennis and his brother Endell were asked to renovate two cottages near St Ives by his aunt Lillian.

They supplemented their meagre income by market gardening at the cottages, where they lived for several years, returning to Wales to visit their family from time to time.

On these visits Dennis would often meet up with Dylan Thomas who he remembered as a good companion and someone who opened up another aspect of the world of art. One such visit he remembered “...we arranged to meet to go to the England versus Wales rugby match. We met in the Woolworths cafeteria. Dylan had £1 but we had no money. However, my brother had a ring an ex-girlfriend had given him - so we pawned it for £1.10 shillings. This led to a memorable day and evening (needless to say we missed the match) starting at the Cross Keys in Swansea and ending, after visiting a number of pubs on the way, at The Mermaid at Oystermouth, some 6 miles away.
Incidentally we learned that Dylan‘s £1 was to pay the butcher.”

The 1930s were heady years in St Ives as artists flocked to the area. Denis met his future wife Jane, working at a craft market. They were married in 1938. Almost by fluke (the recruiting office was closed) Denis spent the war years at Geevor, working as a miner. He found the handling of tools and ‘subterranean carving’ a formative and useful experience for his future sculpture and he could also paint in his free time.

In post war St Ives, the ‘modernists’ had arrived and these were exciting times for a young artist. The names of Mitchell’s friends and fellow artists reads like a roll call of artistic giants; Nicholson, Lanyon, Wells, Wynter, Hepworth, Heron, Frost, Barns-Graham, Sven Berlin, all were colleagues and all are towering figures of Modern British art.

In 1949, via a recommendation from Bernard Leach, Mitchell started working as an assistant to Barbara Hepworth. He stayed with her for 10 years and became her chief assistant at an important time in her career. Also in 1949, the strong personalities within the St Ives Society of Artists led to an explosive rift, and a breakaway Penwith Society was formed. Dennis arranged for the inaugural meeting to be held at the Castle Inn where his brother was now the landlord. Dennis played a full and responsible part in the artistic development of St Ives and was a supportive and healing figure during a time when passions ran high and rivalries were legion. He became the chairman of the Penwith Society in 1955 and fellow artists fondly remember his calm and wise counsel.

_{Nansala, (1975) Bronze, 4 of 7}
 

In 1959 he made his first sculptures in bronze. His sculpting career went from strength to strength; his carved and polished bronzes with their flowing forms and
aspiring vertical shapes won critical acclaim and throughout the 60s he was exhibiting in prestigious galleries in London, Bristol, Edinburgh, Chicago and New York.

He was also teaching part time at Redruth School of Art and Penzance, but by 1967 gave up teaching to sculpt full-time. At this time he moved his studio from St Ives to
Newlyn to join his friend and fellow artist John Wells.

His work and reputation grew in stature and by the time Mitchell died in 1993 at the age of 80 he was just about to open of his last major solo exhibition at the gallery Flowers East at London Fields. The retrospective was first mounted in St Ives for his 80th birthday the previous June and it encapsulated all his
remarkable gifts which came from a long life dedicated to making art.

Denis Mitchell (1912-1993)

After the success of our first Studio Pottery sale last year, we are thrilled to announce that our second sale dedicated to the craft
will take place on the second day of the sale, the 31st of January.

The sale features many charming pieces that celebrate the beauty and usability of studio pottery, with works by notable potters
such as Shoji Hamada, Shigeyoshi Ichino, David Leach, Tatsuz Shimaoka, and many more.  

Click here to view the entire sale

Breon O'Casey, Fish IV