Douglas Portway

Douglas Portway (1922-1993) was a South African artist who came to Europe in 1957. He settled in St Ives in 1967 and moved into Studio 8 soon afterwards. He met other artists involved in the British Abstract movement of the 1950’s and 60’s, including Barbara Hepworth, Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron and Terry Frost, and became an important member of this dynamic artistic community.

His work is often classified as abstract expressionism and always retained some form of mystery to it. His early paintings had a strong ethnic influence to them, but after he left South Africa he developed an interest in Zen Buddhism, and his art began to reflect this change.