George Dannatt 1915-2009

George Dannatt was a British painter, draughtsman and printmaker whose work has come to be recognised as a distinctive contribution to post-war abstraction. Trained as an architect and music critic before turning to painting in the 1950s, he settled in Dorset while also maintaining strong ties to Cornwall, a region central to British modernism. In the 1980s he reached a mature style, producing abstract paintings that combined geometric clarity with a lyrical sensitivity to rhythm and space. Built from layered grids and carefully judged colour harmonies, these works reflect both his architectural training and his responsiveness to the coastal landscape.

Dannatt’s position within twentieth-century British art was strengthened by his friendships with more widely known figures. He was closely associated with Peter Lanyon and Bryan Wynter, whose explorations of the Cornish environment resonated with his own, and was connected to Adrian Heath, Victor Pasmore and John Wells, artists at the forefront of British abstraction and Constructivism. Through these relationships, Dannatt’s work engaged in an ongoing dialogue with some of the most influential painters of his generation, while retaining a personal and measured approach.

Today, Dannatt’s abstract paintings are appreciated for their balance of structure and poise, as well as their place within the wider story of British modernism. Dannatt’s work is present in the collections of Pembroke College, Oxford JCR Art Collection; the Royal Air Force museum; and Dorset Museum, and his influence endures through the George and Ann Dannatt Gift at Pallant House Gallery (Chichester), which includes over 100 works donated to illuminate the story of post‑war abstraction, especially the St Ives community. Seen in the context of his friendships with artists such as Lanyon and Pasmore, these works reveal an artist whose contribution, though less widely known, enriches our understanding of post-war abstraction and the diverse networks that shaped it.