Abstract
Drawing on the painting, constructions and writing of the British artist Peter Lanyon, we explore how geographical knowledge is represented in modern abstract art. Lanyon had a deeply felt sense of Cornish identity and attachment to the history, people and place of West Cornwall. He also adopted particular practices - such as gliding - in which he experimented with bodily position and experience. We examine how these practices and cultural identity flowed together, constituting a kind of knowledge which was transposed into his art, the making of which was also an integral part of this dynamic process. We conclude that Lanyon’s perspective departs from the surveying gaze of traditional landscape representation, and also from the autonomous aesthetic common to abstract expressionists. Lanyon’s historical and cultural conception of landscape, as well as his spatial practices, suggest an awareness of landscape as socially defined. So, in a wider sense, we regard Lanyon’s geographical knowledge as a distinctive exploration of the relationship between individual, society and space.
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