Painter, formerly also textile designer and writer on art. Born 30 January 1920 in Leeds, son of T.M. Heron, founder of Cresta Silks and Christian sociologist. Lived at St Ives 1925–30. Studied at the Slade School 1937–9. His painting was interrupted by the war; in 1945 he settled in London and began to paint again. Deeply impressed by the Braque exhibition at the Tate Gallery 1946. First one-man exhibition in London at the Redfern Gallery 1947 and in New York at the Bertha Schaefer Gallery 1960. Art critic to the New Statesman and Nation 1947–50, and London correspondent to Arts (New York) 1955–8. Retrospective exhibition, Wakefield Art Gallery and northern tour 1952; twelve paintings in the São Paulo Bienal 1953–4. Turned to abstract art under the influence of American abstract painting 1956 and moved the same year to Zennor, Cornwall. Awarded First Prize in the John Moores Liverpool Exhibition 1959, and a silver medal at the Sao Paolo Bienal in 1965. He had retrospective exhibitions at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1972 and at the Barbican Art Gallery in 1985; the same year he was included in the St Ives Exhibition at the Tate Gallery. He was created a CBE in 1977 and became a Trustee of the Tate Gallery in 1980. He died peacefully at his home in Zennor, Cornwall, in March 1999 at the age of 79.