Nanjizal (Mill Bay, Cornwall)

George Dannatt was a connoisseur-turned-artist closely associated with the St Ives artistic community. Dannatt came to art later in life but had a 50-year career creating paintings, prints, collages, assemblages and sculpture. The ethos of his work is inspired by the Cornish Modernists of St Ives and the surrounding area many of whom he was friends with and whose works he collected, including Terry Frost, Adrian Heath, John Wells, Roy Conn, Alexander MacKenzie, Patrick Heron, Denis Mitchell and others. Dannatt achieved an impeccably balanced synthesis of geometry and nature in his abstract compositions. His drawings and paintings show a mastery of colour, composition and texture. Throughout their life as patrons of the arts Dannatt and his wife Ann curated an immaculate collection of works by many St Ives artists, much of this collection was gifted to Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, with an exhibition organised to showcase this generous and important gift.