MILAN IVANIČ – CAPTURING THE NORTHERN LANDSCAPE

Milan Ivanič has lived and worked in the north west of England since 1986. His work over the past six decades consists of what he calls ‘drawing-paintings’ in a wide range of subjects and media. 

In this exhibition, drawings and paintings are interspersed. They show the enormous diversity of Milan’s work, yet they also show how drawing is integral to his paintings, and how he ‘paints’ with immensely varied fields of marks in his pen-and-ink work. Milan has worked, exhibited and sold in the UK, Europe, the US and Australia. 

Milan was ‘the boy who couldn’t stop drawing’. His talent was recognised by his teachers at an early age and he was encouraged to give up football and apply to art school. From there he gained a place at the highly selective Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. He was on course to become an akademický malίř, a state-recognised artist, when he met Roz, a gap-year student from south east of England. His future wife Roz was studying in Prague, Milan came to England with her in 1970. He lived and worked in Devon, Sussex, London, and Stockton (California), before settling in the North West of England in 1986.

This recent painting of field systems and farmland near Lancaster, captures the dramatic approach to the Bowland Fells. For many it is the road to Whitewell in the Forest of Bowland.

Milan has lived in many places in England, often returning to the places he loves in Sussex, but since 1986 the north of England has been his ‘home’, the landscape of Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire, especially the walks and rivers there, as many of the drawings and paintings in the exhibition show. This work on paper is one of a number of pen and ink drawings in this exhibition. Killington is an area known to many through it’s proximity to the Service Station on the M6, situated between Sedbergh and Kendal.

A mysterious painting on canvas with reflections and lustrous paint. A response to the waters of the River Lune.

Almost all the artworks in this new exhibition are a response to the northern landscape. However there are two large canvases included which were painted following a visit to the north Italian city of Urbino. A different light and a different colour palette.

The top right-hand section of the painting is the ‘Palazzo Ducale’, the site of political power. Top left is the ‘Duomo’, the site of religious power. And then across the bottom are the dwellings of the people, living their everyday lives under the influences above. At the bottom left is the land which provides the foundation for the city.

A vibrant colourful canvas provides a contrast to the pen and ink works on display.

A framed print of this painting from 2014 is included in the exhibition to show the range of Milan’s work. ‘The History Men’ was selected for inclusion in the 2015 National Portrait Gallery’s annual portrait award exhibition. Milan’s work being included in this exhibition, which was shown at the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, and in the Ulster Museum Belfast as well as London, introduced Milan’s work to a wider public. The two ‘History Men’ are Dr Thomas Rohkrämer and Dr Kay Schiller. The painting was from a sketch drawn by Milan while observing a discussion at a kitchen table following a meal. The sketch is reproduced on page 275 of ‘Fields of Marks’ the book by Roz Ivanič  ‘

Milan thinks of his landscapes as if they were portraits:

You have to paint the soul, not the visage”

This exhibition coincides with the publication of Field of Marks – The life and work of Milan Ivanič. This is the story of Milan’s’ life, told as much through pictures as through words. Roz Ivanič blends the story of her and Milan’s lives with details of his working practices as an artist. Every page of the narrative is illustrated with Milan’s paintings, drawings and prints. 

The book is available at a Special Price during the exhibition: £30  – (Post and packaging costs will be added) 

Contact:  [email protected] to order a copy.

Before writing Fields of Marks, Roz Ivanič worked in secondary, further and higher education, specialising in the teaching of writing.