As the days grow longer...

I'd like to wish all the friends, family, supporters and visitors of PeterSchmidtWeb happiness, love, light and magic, through the end of this year and throughout the next.

Another...Peter Schmidt

Another piece photographed during my trip to London last winter...

Jasia Reichardt's Peter Schmidt painting...

Untitled(Jasia's Painting)by Peter Schmidt, acrylic on canvas, 1968

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Jasia Reichardt was an early supporter and friend of Peter's. She is the curator of the Themerson Archives, which can be found here: http://www.themersonarchive.com/. Franciszka and Stephan Themerson were very active in the early days of Warsaw's avant garde film community, and later, after emigrating to London in 1948, in publishing with their Gaberbocchus Press, specializing in illustrated books for children. Peter was friends with them, and one of his "Electrostatic Portraits" is of Stephan. Jasia is very well known and regarded in London's art scene and has had a great interest in cybernetics through the years. She was the curator of the ground breaking exhibition "Cybernetic Serendipity" held at the ICA in 1968, of which Peter was the musical adivsor, and Franciszka Themerson was the designer. The exhibit toured the United States in 1969. She wrote the analytical introduction for Peter's exhibit of Autobiographical Monoprints at Lisson Gallery in 1970, and is also the sublect of one of the "Electrostatic Portraits".

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I visited with Jasia and her partner Nick Wadley at their home in London last winter and took this picture. She was a charming host, and gave me unfettered access to all of her collection of Peter's books and works. Her dedication to the Themerson's and her support have been very important and inspirations for me to follow in establishing Peter Schmidt's archive.

Rediscovered Peter Schmidt works...

I've come across several pictures of Peter's work taken in London while visiting with Peter's family a year ago. These were inadvertantly overlooked, when assembling http://www.peterschmidtweb.com/ and never added to the archive. There are some better pictures of some of the works already in the catalogue. They'll be posted to the blog over the coming weeks, and added to the website sometime early next year. Also found were many pictures from Peter's self published books, "A Meeting With Kali", and "Sketchmaps".

Taking Tiger Mountain - 16 takes...

The "Taking Tiger Mountain" Collection

Sixteen(with 4 from the gatefold LP)of 1500, unique prints by Peter Schmidt

www.PeterSchmidtWeb.com

Peter Schmidt at work in his studio...

Peter Schmidt in his studio in Stockwell in 1978.

It is here that many of his watercolor paintings were

created. This window may be familiar to those of

you who are acquainted with the paintings

"The Other House" and "Look at September, look at October".

This photograph was taken by Alain D'Hooghe.

"As with many good artists, one's admiration for Peter's work increases with familiarity. To follow the threads that are woven through his work, to watch the way that they cross and mesh with new threads and with older ones picked up again is to see a graceful and brilliant dance in motion. That this same pace and brilliance characterized his everyday life came, at first, as something of a surprise. He never raised his voice." -Brian Eno, May 1987 (printed in "Opal Information #5)

Peter Schmidt's Cycloid II, III, VI

Cycloid II, serigraph in Black, 1966

Cycloid III, serigraph in black, 1966



Cycloid VI, serigraph in black, 1966
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Peter created the "Cycloid" prints at the Curwen Press, with assistance from master printer, Stanley Jones. Peter and Stanley had been students together at the Slade. I acquired these from a private dealer in London after an introduction from Rory Walsh. There are several more available, if you're interested and I'll provide contact information for this dealer: info@PeterSchmidtWeb.com

Peter Schmidt - Evening Star

"Evening Star", Peter Schmidt, acrylic paint on canvas;1970

Collection of Brian Eno

This is the painting most of us know as "Evening Star". It's one of Peter Schmidt's best known works. Brian Eno bought this small acrylic of a sunset in Tenerife, long before it graced the cover of the album "Evening Star". In Peter's last letter prior to his death in the Canary Islands, to friends Eggert and Ingolfur in Iceland, he described hoping to experience once again the inspiration which caused him to create this painting(see the "Letters" section at the bottom of the "Miscellaneous" page at http://www.peterschmidtweb.com/). An image of "Evening Star" can be seen in the painting "Portrait of Eno with Allusions".

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The artist Russell Mills described to me the technique Peter used in it's creation: "I don't think he had a specific term for it. Necessarily he worked slowly, building the painting in incremental layers of gradated washes of increasing tones from light to dark, using a gum like masking medium to protect the paler lines as the dark ones were applied. It does have a passing resemblance to the line by line process that modern inkjet printers use."

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"Evening Star", the album by Robert Fripp and Brian Eno album was recently remastered and released anew, jointly, on Fripp's Discipline and Eno's OPAL imprints. As such, the artist's will receive their full share of the royalties from it's sales. It is an important document in the canon of all three artists. "Evening Star", and the expanded, and remastered "No Pussyfooting" are now available at www.DGMLive.com and www.enoshop.co.uk.

"Flikker Painting"...

"Flikker Painting"

Peter Schmidt

40"x40", 1973

oil on canvas

Courtesy of and from the collection of Daniel Mason

Peter Schmidt

Peter Schmidt at Galeri Sudurgata 7, Reykjavik, Iceland, 1978

Photo courtesy of The Reykjavik Museum of Photography

To Become Like Music - Peter Schmidt at Mummery+Schnelle

"For Esme", The Boyle Family archive materials, listening stations.


"Droplet", in the main space.


"For Esme" in the ancillary space.


Read an excellent review by Richard Mills at Enoweb:
http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/

Here is a small except, perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the exhibition:

"But to my mind, the greatest prize in the exhibition (which explores the connections between sound and visual material) must be the six short pieces of stereo audio by Peter Schmidt from 1969 (OK - one from 1978). They may now sound like humdrum feedback noises and tape loops but at the time they were being recorded (and these appear/claim to be among the very earliest of British audio experimental tapes in existence), they were genuinely ground-breaking. They seem quite self-conscious in places, but the naivete and assurance are quite a breath-taking combination. Wonder if Peter ever had any idea that these tapes (that were allegedly found in a bag in Norfolk) would re-surface in the 21st Century and be a point of interest, if only for the next few weeks, to a London audience?"

Note: The tapes have actually been in the care of Cally, a student of Peter's at Watford. These tapes have been transferred to digital media for this exhibit by associates of the curator, Prof. Chris Townsend, at the Department of Media Arts of the University of London.

The exhibition runs through 16 August. For more information:
http://www.mummeryschnelle.com/pages/exhibitions_current.htm

Peter Schmidt - self portrait

Peter Schmidt - Self portrait, watercolour, 9.5 x 7.5 cm, no date
(Collection and by kind permission of Adalsteinn Ingolfsson)

"I think I must have met Peter through Eggert Pétursson or Ingólfur Örn Arnarson, two Icelandic artists who had brought him to the Suðurgata 7 gallery in Reykjavik for a show.

Since I had studied art history in London and was fairly familiar with the art scene there, I naturally gravitated towards Peter. I took him on rides in my car, both around Reykjavik and the lava landscape surrounding the city.

Peter´s presence was inspiring. You felt him listening intently to whatever you had to say, and his queries were always quiet, to the point, with enough unsaid to make you think.

There was a Buddist quality about him; one felt that he had found himself an utterly peaceful level of existence. At the same time there was something sad or melancholic about him.

I remember most clearly an evening at my home, when I cooked him the simplest of meals, fresh flounder with potatoes. While I cooked Peter found an LP of mine featuring Casals playing the Bach cello suites. In the end we both sat on the floor, ate the fish and listened to the music. Peter deemed this a" perfect evening". I think it was partly as a thank you for the fish that he sent me his self portrait."

Adalsteinn Ingolfsson

This self portrait watercolor painting is thought to be the only one Peter Schmidt ever painted. Soon to be featured prominently at http://www.peterschmidtweb.com/.

Peter Schmidt - "To become like music"...

"Droplet", 1966 (collection of John Emr)

"For Esme", 1966 (collection of Rory Walsh)

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These two paintings by Peter Schmidt will be exhibited as part of a

group show called "To become like music", alongside works by

Mary Bauermeister, Mark Boyle & Joan Hills, Earle Brown,

Sylvano Bussotti, Paul Caffell, John Cage, Alexander Calder,

Nam June Paik, and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

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This exhibition is being curated by Professor Chris Townsend,

at the London gallery of Mummery+Schnelle,

83 Great Titchfield Street, W1W 6RH. The exhibition will run from

July 15 through August 9, with a private viewing July 16 from 6-8.
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Newly discovered reel to reel tapes of Peter's

sound art have been restored by the University of London's

Department of Media Arts, and will accompany the exhibition.

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For further details, follow this link:

http://www.mummeryschnelle.com/pages/exhibitions_futuredetails1.htm

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My special thanks to Sebastian Boyle of the Boyle Family

for introducing me to Chris Townsend.

And then there were 12...

#1335 of 1500

#990 of 1500

Two more versions of the "Tiger Mountain" prints have been

added to the collection, courtesy of Dr. Steven Lynn of California,

the world's foremost collector of "Tiger Mountain" prints.

PSW now has 12 examples of this edition of 1500 unique

prints assembled for your perusal.

www.PeterSchmidtWeb.com

The Deck of Cards

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The intrepid Rory Walsh came across "The Deck of Cards" while enjoying the Blood on the Page exhibition and researching Peter Schmidt at the Victoria and Albert Museum. This fascinating deck was the brainchild of Alan Driscoll, who produced it in 1979. Peter's Jack of Diamonds, accompanied Tom Phillips' Six of Hearts, David Hockney's King of Hearts, and John Furnival's Nine of Hearts, among this collection of original designs by 56 of England's leading artists. The scan above was created using the deck I recently purchased though Abebooks. Peter's card acknowledges the Tarot and it's duality with the standard deck, with specific imagery and letters that spell out "Page of Pentacles". A picture of this card will eventually wend it's way into the miscellaneous section of www.PeterSchmidtWeb.com

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Peter Schmidt Rocks...

These paintings were inspired by time Peter spent walking the Isle of Skye, Scotland.

"Enovations"...

"Enovations" was a publication for admirers of Brian Eno.

The summer/1979 edition featured the watercolor painting

"Portrait of Eno with Allusions" on it's cover, as well as

Peter Schmidt's words describing the process of creating

this painting of his friend and collaborator. This painting

has been my inspiration for assembling this raisonne

catalogue dedicated to preserving Peter's legacy. Many

thanks to Rory Walsh and Russell Mills who sent this

item to me within two hours of each other. This and another

article from "Enovations"/1981, "A Line has Two Sides",

a discussion of Peter and Russell's work can be found at

the bottom of the "miscellaneous" page at

www.PeterSchmidtWeb.com

"Electrostatic Portraits", 1969

Cover of "Electrostatic Portraits"


Roland Penrose

Jasia Reichardt

Peter Schmidt

The three pictures above are from an Edition Hansjorg Mayer publication called "Electrostatic Portraits", and were created by Peter Schmidt in 1968. They were made by assembling the personal effects of the subject, and then photo copying the assemblage. Here is the cover and the "portraits" of Roland Penrose, Jasia Reichardt, and Peter Schmidt. An oblong folio of 30 pages with 16 full page illustrations in black and white, photocopies pasted on grey cloth, with a heavy rubber-like opaque cover. These 3 and 13 portraits like them were bound in an edition of 25. These will be added to the "Publications" section of http://www.peterschmidtweb.com/ in the near future.

"Taking Tiger Mountain" prints - 10 of 1500

The "Taking Tiger Mountain" prints, are known as such

because four of them appeared on Brian Eno's album of the

same name. They are a series of 1500 unique prints,

composed of photo booth pictures(not Polaroids)of

Brian Eno with treatments and musings by Peter Schmidt.

They were realised by Peter and his students at Watford

School of Art in 1974. Peter gave many of them to friends,

sold a few through galleries, and sold some through

EG Records. Here are ten. It would be ideal to assemble

as many of them as possible. If you have one, or a few,

please consider adding a photo of yours to the collection.

www.PeterSchmidtWeb.com

Peter Schmidt Web

Peter Schmidt Web has been updated. Two pages from the 1966 Curwen Prints Catalogue, showing all six of the "Cycloid" prints has been added to the "Miscellaneous" section (many thanks to Jill at Curwen Gallery). Tiger Mountan print 73 of 1500 (collection of Dr. Steven Lynn) is our fifth, a new photograph of "Land in the North" can be found on page 6 of "His Work" (courtesy Eggert Petursson and The Living Art Museum), as well as twenty photos of recently auctioned pieces (Ewbank Auctions), six line drawings from Peter's time in Iceland (again thanks to Eggert), and several pictures of watercolors from my visit to London a few months ago to latter pages of the "His Work" section. Special thanks to Maria Kiernan for her assistance.

www.PeterSchmidtWeb.com

"Droplet", by Peter Schmidt

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"Droplet"

Peter Schmidt

Acrylic on Canvas

50" H x 40" W

Signed and dated 1966

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I obtained it through an auction held today in England.
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"On Her Majesty's Secret Service", with Peter Schmidt

. James Bond

. Peter Schmidt

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A few of Peter Schmidt's "Monoprints" are seen in the

007 film, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"

starring George Lazenby as James Bond from 1969.

Examples of the "Monoprints" can be found here:

http://www.peterschmidtweb.com/work12.html

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