John Cecil Stephenson - Pioneer of Abstraction

About

Stephenson is arguably the most important 20th century artist to come from County Durham and this will be the first major study of his work in the region including works on loan from national institutions and private collections. Born in Bishop Auckland in 1889 he won a scholarship to Leeds School of Art and later attended the Royal College of Art in London. On graduating he moved to Mall Studios, Hampstead where his neighbours and immediate circle included Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Piet Mondrian, Naum Gabo, Henry Moore and the art critic Herbert Read. Stephenson was one of the core modernists of the 1930's; indeed Herbert Read said that he was one of the earliest artists in this country to develop a completely abstract style".