1913 - 2007
Peter Ellenshaw described his paintings as his own individual kind of realism. His paintings represented the truth of a scene as he saw it: "A picture must look real. If I can't believe the picture I paint, I am not satisfied. Paintings must be alive." Ellenshaw's paintings were, indeed, alive; his canvases were infused with his passion for the land and the sea.
Born in Great Britain, Ellenshaw lived in California for many years. His works were represented in public and private collections throughout the world. Ellenshaw's numerous exhibitions at prestigious art museums included many one-man exhibits at Hammer Galleries in New York City. The artwork he produced during his 30-year association with Disney Productions was honored with a retrospective show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Ellenshaw was associated with more than 30 Disney films - Academy Award winning films from
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to
Mary Poppins, for which Ellenshaw won an Oscar for special effects in 1964.
Ellenshaw's powerful panoramic landscapes expressed both the magnitude and delicacy of nature. He called his method of painting "impressionistic shorthand," which referred to his use of broad brush strokes to give the impression of detail. There was a jewel-like quality to his colors that fired the light in his paintings.
Ellenshaw was able to evoke an immediate response in lovers of nature as he colored his canvases with a combination of technical skill and poetic imagination. Ellenshaw said, "The wonderful thing in painting is that one can never reach the peak of one's endeavor. As the years go by, it becomes increasingly difficult to paint just a little better than last year; but in the trying, one lives to the fullest as a painter."
His art was the subject of the book,
The Garden Within - The Art of Peter Ellenshaw, winner of the 1997 Benjamin Franklin Award, published by Mill Pond Press, Inc.
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