Atkins (b.1937) is mostly known for his al fresco compositions which he creates on a huge scale. The artist is credited with embracing situational challenges which might be seen as frustrating to the process, perhaps even foolhardy. However, the external trials and tribulations are integral to the creation of the works.
The big picture
Atkins sets up his boards, in the landscape he intends to capture. They are often up to 10ft wide and weigh 50kg. He then tethers his equipment to the ground, sometimes with rocks, often for weeks at a time. When he is not working on the paintings, they are left to the elements.
He allows the weather and random aspects of the environment to add texture and character to the work. Sometimes, this organic approach can backfire. One of his massive works of the Thames at Millwall ended up floating down the river after his secret painting spot was discovered by local characters. Evidently, they were no fans of his work.
Wind is another enemy for pictures on this scale. One of Atkins’ pictures was blown to the bottom of a quarry, as critic and curator William Feaver noted in a catalogue essay for a 1996 retrospective.
Atkins paintings are constructed through a process of vigorously applying oil paint at each session. The persistent re-working creates a thickly clotted surface that forms an incremental strata. Occasionally, those layers are a match for the weather.
Bonfire and Apple Tree by Ray Atkins, 2011, oil on board, 4ft (1.22m) square, price £5000.
The artist’s chosen subjects are often desolate spaces; roadsides, quarries, and other industrial and post-industrial landscapes. The British figurative painter, Leon Kossoff (1926-2019 said of Atkins: “He uses the outside world as a studio. The landscapes emerge from day to day involvement with an ever-changing subject which is finally committed to a specific visual experience. I have admired these extraordinary paintings for many years.”
Born in Exeter, Devon, Atkins trained at Bromley College of Art in Kent and Slade School of Fine Art. In the 1950s, after studying, he worked with Frank Auerbach in his studio. During this time, he often painted the raconteur and author Quentin Crisp, a regular life model. Crisp wrote about the sessions with Atkins and the persistent and audible ‘squelch’ of the oils which liberally carpeted the floor.
Atkins taught at Reading University in 1965 where he documented the town’s development through a series of paintings such as Golden Rod and Old Turnip Plant, Prospect Street, Reading. These creations led to a one-person exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, in 1974.
During a 34-year stay in Cornwall, Atkins painted the remains of the St Austell landscape following centuries of mining. Each ton of clay ripped from the ground left multiple tons of waste products, which were piled in spoil tips. The pyramid-shaped mounds still haunt the skyline and are sometimes called the ‘Cornish Alps’.
Atkins moved to Aspet, France in 2009, in the foothills of the Pyrenees.
His work is represented in several public collections.
* The book Ray Atkins: A Painter’s Odyssey includes a foreword by Frank Auerbach, introduction by William Feaver and essay by David Stoker, and is published by Sansom & Company, RRP £35, special launch price £30.
