Biography

Peter Brook was born in the winter of 1927 in the Pennine village of Scholes near the 'summer wine' county of Holmfirth. His parents were farmers initially and Peter grew up among milk carts, helping with the haymaking and drinking ginger beer made by his grandmother. Both winter and the Pennines would continue to play a large part in this Yorkshire painter’s life. Peter was educated at Barnsley Grammar School before moving on to teacher training at Goldsmiths College, part of London University, where he visited exhibitions and galleries whilst also attending evening classes in life drawing. After two years in the RAF, Peter returned to Yorkshire where he became a teacher in Rastrick, near Brighouse, West Yorkshire. There he married Molly. In Brighouse, he found everything he needed to test his skills and start his life in art: its factories, stone built houses, colours, shapes and people. Initially he used thick paints, but this didn't give him the effect he wanted. This came when he began to mix very fine sandstone from a nearby quarry into the paint for the buildings, which gave them more substance and more power and was contrasted with his smooth sky lines which might be made using rags, rollers or his fingers.