Cuillin Bantock

Landscapes in the Grain Cuillin Bantock

A RICHLY ILLUSTRATED BOOK IN FULL COLOUR ON THE REMARKABLE LIFE AND WORK OF THE ZOOLOGIST-PAINTER CUILLIN BANTOCK

"Landscapes in the Grain" is an autobiographical account of the dual career of Cuillin Bantock (born 1935), as a zoologist and painter. It begins at the outbreak of the last war, by the sea, in Harlech, North Wales, where his chief memories are of an over-crowded house in a huge space outside. It was those few years which determined the rest. Broken snail shells in the dunes and inklings of landscape in the grain of the interior wooden boarding of the house were clues to subsequent career choices. Six years at Oxford studying zoology, leading to his obtaining a doctorate, were followed by professional training at Camberwell College of Arts in parallel with the pursuit of a highly successful career in Higher Education with a focus on evolutionary biology, during which he received several awards and published landmark papers in scientific journals. He was commissioned to write an illustrated children's book on evolution "The Story of Life", which was one of the top five of the best science books for children in 1983. Then, in 1989 at the age of 54, he retired from the academic world to devote his time to painting, and this book describes his struggles to find an aesthetic of his own. He moved from figurative to abstract painting, his work always informed on the one hand by his sense as an artist of the reality of the coastal landscape of sandhills at Harlech, and on the other by his experimental work in natural selection as a scientist. He has worked with a wide variety of media, as can be seen from the numerous colour illustrations and photographs in this captivating book.