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“ Bringing together many hitherto unseen paintings by Michael Forster along with comparative pictures and archival photographs, this beautifully illustrated catalogue covers the full scope of Forster's life and work, from the dramatic events of his childhood in India, to his training in England and France through to his years working in Canada, Mexico and, finally, Cornwall. The renowned author and art-critic Paul Duval catalogued Forster's entire studio collection and in his essay gives an insightful account of the artist's work. Dr Jane Hamilton's essay considers some of the paintings Forster produced when serving as an official war artist for Canada and the Surrealist influence which was then very apparent in his work. This authoritative publication, marking the first major exhibition of Forster's work since his death, offers a comprehensive view of this fascinating artist and his work.”
Johnathan Messum

About the catalogue

The late flowering of a unique talent described as “the foremost colourist of his generation”, Michael Forster’s primary concern as a painter was the transference of the experience of light and the patterns of nature into instinctive abstract forms. He spent much of his long career away from the centres of aesthetic fashion—born in India before travelling to Canada and Mexico—and created a body of work that establishes him as a highly original interpreter of the night sky in his cosmic abstractions, as well as a luscious and evocative painter of the English landscape. Settling finally in Treen, Cornwall, for the final thirty years of his life, Forster’s continued energy, zest for colour and for the material of paint itself is all the more astonishing given the dark secret he carried within himself for the majority of his life: the murder of his father by his mother and her lover while he was still a young boy in India. The powerful images and turbulent emotions of those early years undoubtedly fed his art, but out of them came works that are remarkable in the force of their positivity and beauty. Critic, art historian and lifelong friend of the artist, Paul Duval offers insight and interpretation of this remarkable man and his work in the fully illustrated monograph and catalogue produced to accompany the exhibition: Michael Forster: An Inner Landscape.