A volume by Peter Prendergast, one of Britains' foremost landscape painters. It includes essays, as well as a selection of coloured pictures. With contributions by John Russell Taylor, Peter Wakelin, Peter Davies, Robert Macdonald, Lynda Morris, Tony Curtis and David Alston.

Casgliad gan Peter Prendergast, un o arlunwyr tirwedd amlycaf Prydain. Ceir yma draethodau, yn ogystal a detholiad o luniau lliw. Gyda chyfraniadau gan John Russell Taylor, Peter Wakelin, Peter Davies, Robert Macdonald, Lynda Morris, Tony Curtis, a David Alston.

Artists who continually grow and develop their work, and do so in a way that lets their work shape and inform their life, are by far the most interesting artists (and people). Peter Prendergast is such an artist. His work has spanned six decades, and has never stopped progressing. In the late 1950s, encouraged by his art teacher, Gomer Lewis, he began to paint the landscape around him, the paintings showing a singular view of the world that earned him a place at the Slade where he studied with the great Frank Auerbach. His work has continued to move on ever since, and it is this movement and development that The Painter's Quarry charts and explores.

If the calibre of an artist is judged by who writes about her or him, then Prendergast isn't doing badly. The book, which has been published to accompany the current touring exhibition of Prendergast's work, includes essays by Times art critic and author John Russell-Taylor and author of Welsh Artists Talking, Professor Tony Curtis. Like the touring exhibition, the book is really a retrospective of Prendergast's life and work. The essays are a chronological collection, illustrated with some of the artist's most important work, and offer different perspectives and personal thoughts on the changing shape of Peter Prendergast's life and work.

‘Everything began to flower when the painting began,’ Peter Prendergast explained in 2004. The blooming never really stopped. That strikes me as a life well lived, and the book is an excellent retrospective on that life to date (and it's a good read).

Michael Nobbs

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgement should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Gellir defnyddio’r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatâd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.