James Hart Dyke: South Downs brought together a collection of paintings resulting from the artist’s exploration of the South Downs during the pandemic lockdowns of 2021. The landscapes surrounding his home were familiar territory for James, who grew up near Ivinghoe in the Chiltern Hills, an area which shares the same geological formations as the South Downs. As a young boy, he spent many days exploring and painting the countryside around his home.
Although James has often been drawn to the more remote landscapes of the world, particularly mountain ranges, the English countryside has remained central to his work. The brooding skies, chalk paths across the rolling hills and patchwork of fields disappearing into distant horizons provided the subjects for this exhibition, which followed the South Downs from Firle Beacon to the hills above Petworth House.
The paintings also reflected James’s longstanding interest in John Constable, whose plein air studies first inspired him to begin painting at the age of eight. Constable spent several years visiting Brighton, and while working on the exhibition James retraced some of his walks through the surrounding South Downs landscape, seeking out views that Constable himself had painted.
As is typical of James’s practice, many of the paintings began as small plein air studies made directly from the landscape, which were then brought back to the studio and worked up into larger canvases. The exhibition also showed his continued interest in the texture and quality of paint, experimenting with different grounds to contrast colours and control his mark-making.
South Downs was shown at John Mitchell Fine Paintings in 2021 and was extended until 17 December.