John Milne, Gilbert Parr Gallery Exhibition Catalogue

John Milne, Gilbert Parr Gallery Exhibition Catalogue

From Gilbert Parr Gallery, Chelsea, London

21 April – 13 May 1978

Including a private view invitation for Reflections of a Sculptor: The Art and Life of John Milne, featuring Credo, Polished Bronze (1974) artwork on the other side. We found this poster within the booklet.

John Milne was born in Eccles, Lancashire, in 1931. He studied at Salford School of Art from 1945 to 1951, followed by a year at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Paris, under Auricoste. In 1951, he visited Greece, studying at the British School of Archaeology in Athens, and travelled extensively within the country.

In 1952, he returned to England to work as an assistant to Barbara Hepworth, marking a period of direct carving in wood and stone. He later settled in St Ives, where he continued his career as a sculptor.

We have acquired this book from the estate of Mollie and Graham Dark.

Mollie & Graham met in Wimbledon in 1978. He, a Cornishman, born in Gulval in 1930, acquired an early appreciation of art visiting Newlyn Gallery with his family. In his early career Graham worked in London writing for the Daily Express and he was responsible for one of the first Arts columns in a tabloid paper, but in 1960 he opened an antique shop in Chelsea.

Inspired by trips to Italy, he displayed early furniture and antiquities in an uncluttered modern setting, a technique he later utilised in his own home. The Darks moved back to Cornwall in 1980 and at their home in Flushing, and later Truro, curated an impressive body of art and antiquities with a particular focus on Cornish artists such as Paul Feiler and Terry Frost, who both became close friends.

The paintings were displayed alongside mid-century modern designer furniture by Eames, Bertoia and Magistretti, and arrangements of antiquities, thought of as 'ensembles' by Graham. Warm, charming, and generous hosts, they entertained their artistic circle of friends in their exquisitely arranged home, and it is a privilege for us to handle their beautiful possessions today.