Jeremy Lewison – författare

Paul Huxley RA (b.1938) has enjoyed a distinguished career both as a painter and a teacher. Huxley's fascinating artistic life, expertly surveyed by Jeremy Lewison, is at last given the attention that it deserves in this, the first monograph on the artist.Huxley's early interest in abstraction chimed with the dynamism that pulsed through London's art scene in the 1960s. Recognised as a new talent by pioneering curator Bryan Robertson, Huxley enjoyed early success in exhibitions including The New Generation, which opened at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1964. Building from this positive critical reception, and immersing himself in the vibrant artistic communities of London and New York, Huxley built a career characterised by an instinct to push boundaries and find new ways to advance the language of abstract painting. Constantly evolving, the artist's rich body of work, highlights of which are presented here, stands as testament to a life committed to tirelessly investigating and challenging form, space and colour.

Burst! Abstract Painting After 1945 looks at the close, but previously unexplored relationship between Abstract Expressionism and Art Informel. Through texts and close to 100 illustrations, the book describes a vital creative exchange across the Atlantic that would entirely redefine painting. Big, expansive, paint-splattered surfaces; spontaneous actions captured on canvas; new ideas of freedom. A story of post-war recovery and Transatlantic dialogue. On both sides of the ocean, society was reacting to the horrors of the Second World War, the Holocaust and the coming of the atom bomb. The book shows how artists searched for new ways to deal with these shattering events. With works by Jean Dubuffet, Natalia Dumitresco, Helen Frankenthaler, Asger Jorn, Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Sam Francis, Joan Mitchell, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Barnett Newman, Georges Mathieu, Hedda Sterne and Clyfford Still, and more.