Lot Essay
1961, the date of this work, was the most productive year of Lanyon's painting career. In its large scale, luminous palette and exuberant handling, Cliff Wind reflects the excitement that weather effects and the sensation of flight held for Lanyon, a keen pilot of gliders from 1959. 'I have discovered since I began gliding that the activity is more general than I had guessed. The air is a very definite world of activity, as complex and demanding as the sea' (see T. Cross, Painting the Warmth of the Sun: St Ives Artists 1939-1975, Penzance, 1984, p.130).