SOLD


Peter Brook:
Clayton Street with a lady peeping, circa 1970
Framed (ref: 29)
Signed and titled

Oil on canvas, 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61 cm.)

Tags: Peter Brook oil architecture

Provenance: from the artist's own collection

Clayton Square, Brighouse, was one of Peter Brook's favourite subjects. Brook recalls that people used to peep through the curtains thinking he was perhaps from the council making notes for a demolition order. He first painted it in the 1960s, and although it is long since demolished, he today still 'returns' to it as a setting for his paintings. This painting combines many of Brook's favourite motifs: washing on a line, the dark honey-coloured stone of Brighouse, a figure peeping, and a narrative title painted into the composition. Brook's painting technique - which he describes as 'anti academic, something that Degas discovered' - is full of innovation and texture. At times he even used wire brushes - normally for cleaning spark plugs - to capture different light effects.