PAUL FEILER
“Feiler is an artist who lets us really stand in front of a painting and give ourselves over to it and let ourselves concentrate, remind ourselves what it is to think about colour, form and that particular moment, to think about the relationship of painting to our minds and our world.”
— TOM MARKS
Early Life and Education
Born in Frankfurt-am-Main in 1918, Paul Feiler fled Nazi Germany in 1933, finding refuge in England. He initially pursued medicine but ultimately chose to follow his passion for art, enrolling at the Slade School of Fine Art from 1936 to 1940. During his time there, he studied alongside notable contemporaries such as Patrick Heron and Bryan Wynter. Feiler's formative years were shaped by his experiences of light and perspective while mountaineering in the Alps, as well as encounters with classical architecture in museums and travels.
Wartime Challenges and Teaching Career
During World War II, Feiler was interned, but he remained dedicated to his artistic pursuits. Despite his absence, he received his diploma from the Slade in absentia. In 1941, he took on a role as an art master at Eastbourne College and later taught at the West of England College of Art in 1946. His work began gaining recognition through exhibitions at prestigious venues, including the Royal Academy and the Leicester Galleries. Around this time, he married fellow artist June Miles, and they settled in Bristol.
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Inspiration from Cornwall and Early Abstractions
In 1949, a visit to Cornwall proved transformative for Feiler’s artistic direction. Inspired by the coastal landscape, he developed a distinctive style of painterly abstraction. It was here that he reconnected with his former classmates Heron and Wynter and was introduced to artists like William Scott and Peter Lanyon. His first solo exhibition at the Redfern Gallery in 1953 cemented his reputation, leading to further creative explorations, including a formative trip to Italy.
Feiler's work stood apart from that of his St Ives contemporaries due to his heavily textured surfaces, which drew comparisons to the paintings of Nicolas de Staël. His paintings were soon featured in major international exhibitions, including the British Council’s British Abstract Painting (1957) and the Tate Gallery’s British Paintings in the 1960s(1961). In 1964, he exhibited alongside Roger Hilton, Alan Davie, and Peter Lanyon at the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol.
A Shift Toward Geometric Abstraction
By the late 1960s, Feiler sought a new direction, moving away from landscape-inspired abstraction toward geometric and spatial explorations. The lunar landings influenced his compositions, leading to simplified arrangements of circles and vertical bars reminiscent of Malevich’s Suprematist works. This marked the beginning of his ‘shrine paintings’—a series of concentric squares enclosing a central circle, exploring ideas of space, structure, and transcendence. Over the following decades, Feiler refined this concept, drawing inspiration from classical architecture and the atmospheric qualities of his Cornish landscapes.
Later Works and Legacy
Feiler's work gained the support of art historian John Steer, and in 1980–81, a major solo exhibition curated by Bryan Robertson toured England and Germany under the Scottish Arts Council’s organization. In the 1990s, he continued pushing his artistic boundaries with the Janus, Sekos, and Aduton series, using darker palettes before incorporating gold in his Janicon works. His 2005 exhibition The Near and The Far at Tate St Ives juxtaposed his works with those of Cézanne, Malevich, Turner, and de Staël, highlighting his deep engagement with the history of painting.
From 2008 until his passing in 2013, Feiler created the Square Reliefs series, introducing Perspex elements into his compositions. This innovative approach combined painting and sculptural depth, enclosed within a Perspex frame, showcasing his relentless pursuit of new artistic frontiers.
