ABOUT 'FROM THE STUDIO' EXHIBITION
Hart Dyke has been a landscape painter since the age of eight, initially making his name as a painter of country houses after leaving the Royal College of Art.
However in 1998, while accompanying HRH King Charles on the royal tour of East Asia, Hart Dyke flew over the Himalayas. The following year he returned to paint the dramatic scenes around Mt Everest. This was the first of many gruelling painting expedition to remote landscapes which now include Patagonia (South America), Atlas Mountains (North Africa), Humla (West Nepal), Yosemite Park (USA), The Middle East, extensively across the Alps and just recently to K2 (Karakoram). In 2022 Hart Dyke painted the sunset views from the summit of Mont Blanc. See image above.
‘I search out those landscapes that connect us more directly to the universe and in doing so hope to touch on the mystery and beauty of our own brief existence.’ James Hart Dyke 2025
His adventures are not confined to landscape painting as in 2006/2007 he was embedded in the British Forces as a war artist in Afghanistan and Iraq and in 2010 he worked for a year in secret with the British Secret Intelligence Service. The paintings were exhibited in a public exhibition ‘A year with MI6’, resulting in a frenzy of worldwide publicity. Following that he worked with the producers of the James Bond films and in 2012 one of his paintings was featured in the Bond film ‘Skyfall’.
‘Paintings from the studio’ is an opportunity for Hart Dyke to show an eclectic collection of work that has been building up in his studio, mainly landscapes of the UK which he considers central to his practice. In particular there are paintings of the South Downs, North Norfolk and a few from the Lake District, painted while filming a feature for the BBC One Show. However there are also landscapes from many of his adventures, including a largish painting of Lhotse and Mt Everest, symbolic of his first mountain painting expedition. Tucked in amongst all the landscapes are some seemingly out of place more ‘graphicy’ works, linked to his time with the British Secret Intelligence Service.
The largest painting, Matterhorn on blue, is one of James’s latest mountain paintings which experiments with the use of acrylic paint applied with industrial brushes, partly done with a view to the making of large paintings for his next exhibition K2 Karakoram which will be exhibited in London and Italy next year.
