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Patrick Hayman biography

Patrick Hayman was a prolific artist in a variety of media including painting, drawing, three-dimensional constructions, as well as writing poetry and editing an arts magazine. Born in London, he moved to New Zealand at the age of nineteen in 1936 to work in the Dunedin office of P. Hayman and Co., his father’s importing firm. He left the office after only two years to explore the country, and following a long, contemplative walk on the South Island, began to paint.

In 1947, he left New Zealand for London’s more progressive artistic climate. He met a dancer, Barbara Judson, and they were married in 1950. The following year, the couple moved to Mevagissey, and then later lived in St. Ives where Hayman felt a particular affinity for Alfred Wallis, the renowned St. Ives painter. The couple moved back to London in 1953, but later returned to St. Ives, and also lived elsewhere in Cornwall.

Artist Patrick Hayman had a strong literary talent and was the founder and editor of Painter & Sculptor magazine from 1958 until 1963. During the 1960s he also taught at the Falmouth School of Art, and then at the Croydon School of Art. However, as described by Philip Vann,”Hayman was also the least academic and pretentious of men. His own paintings and painted poems are striking for their intelligence, innocence and visionary candor.” Hayman’s painting style, informed as it was by literary, historical and mythological stories, was quite removed from traditional models. Hayman said, “As a painter I write poetry and as a poet I wish to illustrate it.” He often worked on several pictures over a period of time – adding, forming, changing and over-painting, finally achieving a luminous, textured surface.