Peter Snow ARA
Peter Snow ARA
1927 - 2008
Born 1927 Catford, London; Died 2008 Ringwood, Hampshire
English painter, theatre designer and teacher
Peter Snow spent a brief period attending Goldsmiths College in 1946 and won a scholarship to the Slade School of Art in 1948, studying there until 1953. As a student, Snow studied stage design under the abstract artist Robert Medley (1905-94). Snow would eventually join the staff of the Slade in 1957, a period when the artist William Coldstream (1908-87) was Professessor of Fine Art. Snow held the position Head of Theatre Design for 25 years, between 1967-92, and among his notable Slade students were Yolanda Sonnabend and Derek Jarman.
Snow was a successful stage designer, receiving early praise for productions of the British premiere of Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' at the Arts Theatre in 1955 (directed by Peter Hall). Additional work steadily followed at London venues such as the Royal Opera House, the Lyric Theatre, the Arts Theatre and the Theatre Workshop. English theatre director and 'Mother of Modern Theatre', Joan Littlewood, was a lifelong freind. Snow also produced work for television, designing a BBC film about Rex Whistler (1978).
As a painter Peter Snow had a number of one-man exhibitions, his first being at the Prospect Gallery in 1951. Other important shows came in 1958 at the Beaux Arts Gallery and in 1975 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), although Snow didn't exhibited at the Royal Academy until 1987. Throughout his career Snow exhibited alongside many of Britain's best known artist of the twentieth century, including Frank Auerbach, Prunella Clough, Lucian Freud, Terry Frost, Patrick Heron and Peter Lanyon. Snow's early paintings often contained grey, muted colours and fall within the so called "kitchen sink" movement, but he soon developed a broader colour palette. Snow enjoyed painting at night and under artificial light (street lights), with many of his paintings capturing London's streets after dark, alluding to a sense or urban mystery. Snow received a retrospective exhibition at the Morley Gallery in 1995.
Examples of Snow's art are held by a number of public collections including the Theatre Museum, the Museum of London, the National Portrait Gallery and the Guildhall Art Gallery.
(Benjamin Angwin - September 2014)
English painter, theatre designer and teacher
Peter Snow spent a brief period attending Goldsmiths College in 1946 and won a scholarship to the Slade School of Art in 1948, studying there until 1953. As a student, Snow studied stage design under the abstract artist Robert Medley (1905-94). Snow would eventually join the staff of the Slade in 1957, a period when the artist William Coldstream (1908-87) was Professessor of Fine Art. Snow held the position Head of Theatre Design for 25 years, between 1967-92, and among his notable Slade students were Yolanda Sonnabend and Derek Jarman.
Snow was a successful stage designer, receiving early praise for productions of the British premiere of Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' at the Arts Theatre in 1955 (directed by Peter Hall). Additional work steadily followed at London venues such as the Royal Opera House, the Lyric Theatre, the Arts Theatre and the Theatre Workshop. English theatre director and 'Mother of Modern Theatre', Joan Littlewood, was a lifelong freind. Snow also produced work for television, designing a BBC film about Rex Whistler (1978).
As a painter Peter Snow had a number of one-man exhibitions, his first being at the Prospect Gallery in 1951. Other important shows came in 1958 at the Beaux Arts Gallery and in 1975 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), although Snow didn't exhibited at the Royal Academy until 1987. Throughout his career Snow exhibited alongside many of Britain's best known artist of the twentieth century, including Frank Auerbach, Prunella Clough, Lucian Freud, Terry Frost, Patrick Heron and Peter Lanyon. Snow's early paintings often contained grey, muted colours and fall within the so called "kitchen sink" movement, but he soon developed a broader colour palette. Snow enjoyed painting at night and under artificial light (street lights), with many of his paintings capturing London's streets after dark, alluding to a sense or urban mystery. Snow received a retrospective exhibition at the Morley Gallery in 1995.
Examples of Snow's art are held by a number of public collections including the Theatre Museum, the Museum of London, the National Portrait Gallery and the Guildhall Art Gallery.
(Benjamin Angwin - September 2014)