Seven linocut blocks by the artist John Banting (1902-72)

This collection contains seven linocuts by John Banting. Almost all of his linocuts were produced for incorporation in collages. Linocuts from the blocks in this collection were published by Alexander Postan Publishing (in London) in 1971 as 'Six Linocuts of the '30s'.

John Banting was born in 1902. He originally trained as a bank clerk while attending Bernard Meninsky's evening classes at Westminster School of Art. In 1922 he went to Paris to study and exhibited there with the Surindependants. He returned to London and worked in his father's bookbinding factory and later took a studio in London. He joined the London Group in 1927 and was invited to exhibit with the 7 & 5 Society in 1929. His first solo show was held at the Wertheim Gallery in 1931. A flamboyant figure, he exhibited regularly with the surrealists, notably at the Great International exhibition of 1936 at the New Burlington Galleries in London and later the same year in the exhibition "Fantastic Art Surrealism Dada" at MOMA New York. During the 1930s he moved in a wide social circle including Leonard and Virginia Woolf, Edward Sackville- West, Edward Burra, Nancy Cunard, Brian Howard and James Stern. He travelled widely, including visits to America where Harlem jazz inspired his "guitar-face" images, and to Spain during the civil war. He worked in a variety of media including oils and line drawings. He also produced cartoons and illustrations for left-wing publications, book jackets for Leonard and Virginia Woolf's Hogarth Press and stage designs. In 1939 he was the art director for Strand Films and art editor for the periodical 'Our Time'. His best work was produced before 1940, after which his output, although retaining its quality and his distinctive style, became irregular. After the second World War when his circle of friends had dispersed he lived in some poverty and obscurity, exhibiting only in 1971, the year before his death, when his work was included in a show of British Surrealism and a one man show, both at the Hamet Gallery. Banting died in 1972.

OPEN

Presented by Alexander Postan in 1972.

Supplementary to the Banting papers (TGA 779). Letters from Banting can be found in the papers of Edward Burra (TGA 939), Lord Kenneth Clark (TGA 8812), Barbara Ker-Seymer (TGA 974), George Melly (TGA 842), Cedric Morris (TGA 8317), Humphrey Spender (TAM 57), James Stern (TGA 8429), and Joan Warburton (TGA 968). Works by Banting are included in the exhibition catalogues of the Artists International Association (TGA 7043) and of the London Group (TGA 7713).