Michael Bennallack Hart

Michael Bennallack Hart’s landscapes draw one in to their compelling atmospheric presence. Unusual contemporary compositions convey a Romantic sense of mood. His landscapes, from Dartmoor to Mont Blanc are caught in moments of superb light effects, moments of wonder. In both composition and colour, his interesting combination of freedom and restraint make you want to hold your breath when contemplating paintings that, like a beautiful starlit dusk, are calming and uplifting at the same time. The impression of a moment that will not last is caught forever in the painting. At every level there is a finely wrought tension between reality and illusion. Even his application of paint is often sparse within pictures that seem luxuriously full of deeply contrasting colour.

“Michael Bennallack Hart has a particular feeling for the solidity of landscape: the white mass of a chalk cliff, the solid shapes of clipped hedges, heavy dark blocks of foliage. It lends an impressive and individual quality of weight and calm to his work, and an elegiac serenity.”

Jane Ross, The Week

Michael Bennallack Hart was born in 1948 in Sussex. His love and understanding of landscape began during his childhood in the Weald of Kent and has evolved during his travels in the British Isles, Ireland, Europe and the United States. He studied at Ravensbourne College of Art in London from 1966-70. He began his career designing and illustrating film posters and record sleeves, and painting landscapes and sports scenes. In the 70s and 80s he worked as an advertising art director and as an illustrator, while continuing to paint, exhibiting at the Spectrum Gallery in New York. In UK he was represented for many years by the Medici Gallery for whom he painted many beautiful paintings. We are delighted to represent his work.

Michael Bennallack Hart’s paintings are shown below. Please do click on an image to view them all larger and with captions. Please contact Sladers Yard on 01308 459511 or by email to gallery@sladersyard.co.uk to enquire about any of Michael Bennallack Hart’s work.