Arlie Panting

Arlie Panting was an American-born painter whose work is known for its Neo-Romantic qualities and distinctly American sensibility. She began her art education in Milwaukee before continuing her studies at L’Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris after World War II. Panting moved to London in the mid-1950s, where she became an active part of the art scene, first showing her work in mixed exhibitions for the Women’s International Art Club at the New Burlington and Chenil Galleries in 1955 and 1956. Her paintings, characterised by bright colours and soft, blurred outlines, evoke a dreamlike quality. Influenced by the Italian Renaissance and the School of Paris, Panting’s work was neither confined to the European art scene nor influenced by Abstract Expressionism from the United States. Her style carries a romantic spirit, often described as surreal and suffused with reverie. 

‘It is very much an art that gives a personal mood with a sensitivity and serenity that recalls something of the Italian Primitives … it is very much the romantic spirit – suffused with reverie.’ – Conroy Maddox, Art Review, October 29, 1966