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In this Apollo podcast, Thomas Marks talks to the actor and writer Mark Gatiss about his new film John Minton: The Lost Man of British Art. Gatiss discusses his first encounter with Minton’s work at the National Portrait Gallery, and how it led to a lifelong fascination with the artist – seeking out Minton’s paintings, collecting his works, and latterly, for this documentary, retracing his footsteps and talking to some of the artists and models who knew him.
Minton’s illustrations helped to forge the look of post-war Britain, while his teaching inspired artists such as Peter Blake and Bridget Riley. For all his success and influence, he was a troubled figure – at times the leader of the pack but also somehow left behind by it – and he took his own life at the age of 39. But as Gatiss explains, there was still much joy to Minton’s world and work – as he has himself discovered.
John Minton: The Lost Man of British Art is on BBC Four at 9pm on 13 August.
John Minton in the studio. Photo: Russell Westwood; © National Portrait Gallery