Biography
Born in London in 1915, Patrick Hayman was raised in Bexhill-on-Sea in a non-practicing Jewish household. Brought up mostly just by his mother in his formative years whilst his father had joined with the Artist’s Rifles- a British regiment of artists, actors and musicians- he enrolled at Malvern College to study poetry at age 14 where he became fixated on the poems and art reflecting the First World War, which fed into an anger towards the concept of warfare which he carried with him for the rest of his life.
With the advent of Hitler coming to power in Germany in 1933, and with it an increasing amount of antisemitism growing within Europe, alongside a disdain for British politics as well as the death of his mother two years prior, Hayman was left depressed and dispirited. As a result of this, and with it an inability to settle into the family business in the East End, his father sent him overseas to New Zealand.
Arriving in January 1936, Hayman became enthralled with the environment he was surrounded by in the south east coast of South Island. As well as this, Heyman became inspired to paint by Robert Field, a painter at the Dunedin School of Art where he studied; though his artwork didn’t impress Hayman, his passion in the necessity of art influenced him greatly.
Hayman remained in New Zealand for a number of years, fathering a daughter in 1942- New Zealand artist Christina Conrad- and grew close to a group of young artists who developed New Zealand’s first indigenous Modernism. Returning to England in 1947, Heyman not only had his first exhibition in the London Gallery, but he also quickly became a significant part of the explosive post-war art scene in Cornwall.
Cornwall was very reminiscent of what Hayman had got accustomed to in New Zealand inspired his works around this time, as did the community developing around him. After a period of teaching at the Falmouth School of Art, and then the Croydon School of Art, Hayman’s artwork grew into becoming some of the most inventive and expressive of the Cornish art scene.
Patrick Hayman died in 1988, leaving behind a wonderful career and body of work, extensively exhibited and collected. A book by Mel Gooding, “Patrick Hayman, Visionary Artist” was published in 2005 in association with the Belgrave Gallery, St Ives.