TONY MOSTYN 1898 - 1972
PAUL LIGHTFOOT
Tony Mostyn painted throughout his life, but he rarely exhibited and this is the first time his work has been seen since his death in 1972.
In the 1930s he lived in the main street in Walberswick, but for his studio he used the large black hut on stilts at the estuary, and in this exhibition there are paintings of the landscape around his studio and scenes in the village.
Tony Mostyn was born in Rome on 11 April 1898, son of Hon. Harold Plantagenet Mostyn (1865-1951), who was also an artist. In the First World War Tony was a Lieutenant in the 60th Rifles, and a Major in the Intelligence Corps during the Second. He was a self-taught painter and painted throughout his life, and there are still over a hundred paintings with the immediate family, many of which were painted in Suffolk or the South of France.
Paul Lightfoot was born in 1956, and he’s showing a selection of paintings and drawings from over the years.
At fifteen he entered the foundation course at Ipswich art college, but left in the second year, however, his avidity for art had taken hold and he started drawing pictures in a pointillistic style. They had a certain amount of success and it led to drawing greetings cards in the same style, but it was much later before any of these were printed.
He moved to London in his early twenties and with the need to put food on the table he started painting decorative finishes and murals, which he ended up doing in several countries for private and commercial clients. But he never stopped painting pictures and was eventually able to devote more time to it, and by the 1990’s was hiring studio space in Notting Hill Gate. In 1997 he started spending time in France where he could devote himself entirely to painting, and in 2012 he moved to Suffolk, back to the area he grew up in.
This is the first exhibition he’s had in Suffolk, but he’s only ever had three solo shows; in London, Toulouse, and the Cultural Centre in Dijon. In the 1990’s the Bruton Street Gallery, W1, and the Wolseley gallery, W11, exhibited his paintings and drawings, but in the late 90s the extravagant space of The Bruton Street gallery closed, the Wolseley Gallery concentrated on the secondary market, and he stopped exhibiting. But he kept painting, and in 2011 had an exhibition in the Foyles Bookshop, Charing Cross Road, London. This is his first exhibition since then.