Path of the Son: Biography of Bryan Pearce - Hardcover

Jones, Ruth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0950490407 ISBN 13: 9780950490403

Publisher: Imprint unknown, 1976

Synopsis

Bryan Pearce (1929-2007) is recognised as one of the country’s foremost ‘naïve’ painters. Pearce specialised in paintings of his home town, St Ives, and the surrounding Penwith area, drawn in typically flat style, with areas of bright colour surrounded by heavy outlines, like stained glass. From the dustjacket: 'Bryan Pearce, the Cornish artist, is now one of England's foremost primitive painters. The fact that he is mentally handicapped was not disclosed to the general public until his reputation as an artist was established. Bryan Pearce has lived for most of his life in St Ives but almost forty years ago at the age of ten he was sent away to a special school with the prospect that: 'he might be trained to mend a pair of shoes'. The Path of the Son traces the story through the years of effort, tragedy, and disappointment that preceded his success and gives special emphasis to the role of his mother Mary, whose courage and determination helped to make his artistic career possible. Her triumph is even more remarkable when it is revealed that Bryan's sister was also handicapped. The disease which afflicted Bryan and his sister was diagnosed in 1959 as 'Phenylketonuria'. The quiet acceptance of their misfortune, and the faith and good-humour of Mary and Walter Pearce, who set out to make their children's lives as happy and constructive as their limitations would allow, will be an inspiration to all parents. Ruth Jones writes engagingly and lucidly about the continual problems and occasional pleasures of a family faced with the upbringing of two handicapped children. This compelling and often moving story is set against the beautiful town of St Ives with its old streets and sheltered harbour, where Bryan, from his studio in Market Place, established the painting skills which transformed 'despair into delight'.The book is illustrated with 50 reproductions of Bryan Pearce's paintings (including 4 in colour), drawings and family photographs.

Edition details

• Publisher: Imprint unknown
• Publication date: 1976
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0950490407
• ISBN 13: 9780950490403
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 104