PETER JOSEPH: THE EARLY WORKS

British painter Peter Joseph’s 17th solo exhibition with Lisson Gallery presents a selection of early and rare works from the 1960s and ‘70s that track Joseph’s development from vividly coloured, geometric compositions and shaped canvases through to the muted rectangular and square paintings that would define the following decades of his career.

February 7 - March 15, 2025

Spanning the years from 1964 to 1978, the exhibition features 12 paintings, as well as previously unseen sketchbooks, which chart Joseph’s experiments with colour and form. The presentation journeys from earlier paintings that focus on vibrant primary colour and performativity – for which he received wide critical and institutional acclaim, including exhibitions at Camden Arts Centre and Kenwood House in 1966 – to his Cinema Paintings which pre-figure Joseph's signature Border paintings of the 1980s and 90s.

From his transition to painting full-time in the early 1960s after a career in graphic design, Joseph emerged as a key figure in contemporary art, seeking to challenge the boundaries of abstraction, drawing influence from the Italian Renaissance through to modernist movements. Influenced initially by the approach to large-scale he observed in the work of the American abstract expressionists, and then in artists such as Ellsworth Kelly and Kenneth Noland, he subsequently rejected the ‘public scene’ of contemporary art for a renewed focus on older painting, eventually leaving London for Gloucestershire in the early 1980s.

Early works such as the 30ft painting Colour Continuum (1966) captivated audiences with their immersive engagement with colour and light, while the monumental 70ft Yellow Wall, made for Camden Art Centre in 1969, completely transformed a traditional gallery space into a meditative environment, garnering Joseph critical and institutional acclaim. These works embodied the artist’s philosophy of art as a “real situation”, prioritising the viewer’s experience of presence and introspection.

The exhibition celebrates Peter Joseph’s enduring impact on contemporary art, showcasing his dedication to creating spaces of quiet transformation through the power of light and colour.