John Minton

Portuguese Cannon, Mazagan, Morocco

1953

© The estate of John Minton

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In Tate Britain

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Artist: John Minton 1917–1957
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 1524 × 1143 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Presented by the Royal College of Art in memory of the artist 1957
Reference: T00159

Display caption

Minton went to Morocco with his friend, actor Norman Bowler in 1952. This painting shows a gun at a fortress outside of the town of El Jadida. The fortress was built in 1514 by Portuguese forces who had invaded the city in 1502.
Minton once said ‘I am attracted to places where there is a strong individual flavour of climate and living.’ This painting captures the heat and colours of the place, as well as its character as an area shaped by a long history of colonisation.

Gallery label, April 2019

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Catalogue entry

T00159 PORTUGUESE CANNON, MAZAGAN, MOROCCO 1953

Inscr. ‘John Minton 1953’ b.r.
Canvas, 60×45 (152×114·5).
Presented by the Royal College of Art in memory of the artist 1957.

Exh: Fifty Years of British Art, Bradford, March–June 1954 (21); on loan to the R.C.A., 1954–7; Arts Council, October–November 1958 (25).

Minton visited Morocco in 1952 and exhibited a group of watercolours of Moroccan subjects, including one with the same title, at the Lefevre Gallery in December 1953.

Published in:
Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London 1964, II