THIS summer an internationally acclaimed artist will show a major new collection of work in his Cornish homeland.

‘Exploring Time: A Painter's Perspective’ by Tony Foster is showing at Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery from July 5 to October 25; it will go on to the Royal Watercolour Society in London, the Dayton Art Institute in Ohio and other transatlantic venues.

For 45 years, Tony has set out from Tywardreath bound for distant rainforests, mountains, and deserts, carrying his modest camping equipment and tiny tin of watercolours with him.

Of his Cornish home, Tony said: “It’s ironic that I leave this beautiful place to paint, when so many others come here to do just that. I’ve been all over the world, and I can honestly say I’ve never found anywhere more beautiful and varied than Cornwall. But, I have an insatiable desire for exploration and it’s an intrinsic part of my work. I always love coming back to Cornwall though – it’s my anchor.”

Taking landscape painting to the extreme, these ‘Journeys’ have bought Tony worldwide recognition; he is the only living British artist to have a museum in the US dedicated to his work, has exhibited at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society.

The concept for Exploring Time was conceived while Tony was painting on Everest in 2007, when a monk handed him an ammonite fossil found near the peak of the mountain.

That Everest was once under the sea is well known, but holding the physical evidence in his hands had a profound impact on Tony, who said: “Protecting wild places is the absolute imperative of our time. I believe that civilisation would be better measured, not by the area under landscaped lawns and driveways, but by the area we are prepared to leave alone.”

Using different frames of reference - Geological, Biological, Human and Fleeting – in Exploring Time the artist shows time from nature’s viewpoint, from the movement of mountains and rivers to the seasons of a Cornish hedge and the appearance of a rainbow.

Bryony Robins, co-director of Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery, said: “We’re extremely honoured to have Tony exhibiting with us, and have enjoyed working closely with the team from The Foster Museum in California to deliver the exhibition.”

She continued: “Tony has as much in common with natural history documentary makers as his fellow landscape painters and, like them, his work helps people appreciate and value the remote, majestic places he visits.”

Tony’s camping and painting equipment will be on display as part of the exhibition, including his easel which has been specially modified for easy transportation and painting in inhospitable places.

Exploring Time is an extraordinary collection of work which celebrates the monumental landscapes this incredible artist and explorer has encountered, and threatens to make rewilding advocates of us all.

To find out more about the work on display at Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery visit the website www.cornwallmuseum.org