Black Hill by David Holt, December 2003

A large modern oil painting of British mythical landscape with standing stones

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Printing Details

Painted in late 2003, this is an original oil painting, in a bespoke frame. The frame measures 64 × 89cm, and the painting is 50 × 76cm. The frame has been painted green to the facing edge, with a light colour wash to the inner frame. The outer edge of the frame remains uncoloured.

This oil painting depicts a mythical British landscape. The foreground shows a bird-like figure in a stone circle of seven standing stones, with a red path leading to the strong presence of the Black Hill, surrounded by cloud. The middle ground features a typical English patchwork fieldscape.

Signed, dated and titled by David Holt in pen to the reverse.

David Holt (1928–2014). Born in Hythe, Kent. Painter and Lecturer in Art. After National Service, he trained at the Canterbury School of Art, the Hammersmith School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools where he was awarded a medal for drawing and the Knapping Prize. He joined a studio-workshop with Gerald Holtom (designer of the CND symbol) in 1958 where he designed and produced proscenium curtains for schools. In 1958 he was awarded a Harkness Fellowship and travelled across America, producing many drawings and prints of the Pueblo Indians and their life-dance in Santa Fe in New Mexico, where he also worked with artist Agnes Sims. He returned to England in 1960 and continued to paint and work on large textile appliques for schools, churches, and private houses including Spade House in Kent, the former home of H G Wells.

He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1962, and in 1964 was commissioned to design and make a large textile applique 'Christ in Majesty' which still hangs in the chapel of Christ Church College in Canterbury.

He was Head of Art at Canterbury Christ Church University until his retirement in 1995. He exhibited widely in the UK and the States and worked with many art societies and summer schools across East Kent.

His work can be found in both private and public collections throughout the UK and America, including the Yale Centre for British Art. His painting "Coastal Watcher" was recently used for the dustwrapper on Modernism and Memory: Rhoda Pritzker and the Art of Collecting (Yale University Press, 2016).

Condition

This painting is in very good condition. Due to size and weight, postage is restricted to the UK though I am happy to investigate sending overseas. Please email to discuss.

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