post-war to pop, modern british art: abstraction, pop & op art
DESCRIPTION
With this varied selection, the exhibition endeavors to capture the Post-war optimism and excitement, which roused the British Art scene. It reflects the spirit of an age of experiment and 'cool', celebrated through bold colours, large canvasses, irregular shapes, psychedelic optical illusions and sexy Pop Art imagery to become known as the legendary Swinging Sixties.TRANSCRIPT
6 DUKE STREET ST. JAMES’SL O N D O N S W Y 1 6 B NTE L .+4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 7 9 3 0 9 3 3 2FA X .+4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 7 9 3 0 5 5 7 7i n f o@wh i t f o r d f i n e a r t . c omwww. w h i t f o r d f i n e a r t . c om
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POST-WAR Covers_Whitford Cover 11/07/2012 14:12 Page 1
POST-WAR TO POP
Front cover: Patrick Heron, Rumbold, 1968 – 70 (cat. no. 9)Back cover: Antony Donaldson, That‘ll Be the Day, 1964 (cat. no. 25, detail)
POST-WAR TO POP
Modern British Art: Abstraction, Pop and Op Art
22nd May – 20th June 2008
6 DUKE STREET ST. JAMES’S LONDON SW1Y 6BNTEL. +44 (0)20 7930 9332 EMAIL [email protected]
WHITFORDF I N E A R T
Following the Second World War, the success of American Abstract Expressionism proclaimed
Abstraction as the central thread in contemporary painting and sculpture.
Although the 1956 and 1959 exhibitions of American Abstraction at the Tate had considerable
impact, British artists of the 1950s could draw on a longstanding history of their own. As early as
1912-1914, the Vorticists showed definite abstract tendencies and during the 1930s Abstraction
was established through the ‘Unit One’ and the ‘7 & 5 Society’, both of which counted Ben
Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore as members.
During the 1950s many British painters adopted Tachism, a free, improvisatory abstraction,
whereby a composition emerged from the action of spontaneous gestures on the canvas.
Developed in France as a parallel to American Abstract Expressionism, Tachism in Britain enjoyed
critical success through the unfailing support of Denis Bowen’s New Vision Centre and the
Redfern Gallery. The spontaneous and gestural aspect of this style is exemplary in Abstract
Yellow, 1953 by Frank Avray Wilson (cat.4), L’Arbre Morte, 1950, by William Gear (cat.2) and
Painting S.T., 1957 by Robyn Denny (cat.1).
During the 1960s many artists continued to produce Tachist works of high quality but the attention
of the art world in general had shifted towards Hard-Edge Abstraction and Colour Field painting.
Characterized by strict formal composition, flat areas of colour and a dismissal of the
expressionist gestural brushstroke, Hard-Edge Abstraction was practiced by Robyn Denny and
John Plumb amongst others. ADay 3 (Here and Then series), 1968-73 (cat.5) shows Denny leaving
behind the Tachist spirit in favour of an impersonal paint application and delineated areas of
colour. Untitled, 1968 by John Plumb (cat.6) displays the typical sharpness and dynamism with
which he applies strong colours on a scale usually only contemplated by the Americans.
In Two Red Forms, 1968 (cat.7) Paule Vézelay applies movement to the Hard-Edge sharp
POST-WAR TO POP
Modern British Art, highlighting the movements of Abstraction, Pop and Op Art
Left: Jeremy Moon, Orange Queen, 1964 (cat. no. 29, detail)
delineation, whereas Composition “Pink”, 1963 (cat.8) by her friend Vera Spencer illustrates an
affinity with the early Colour Field painting of Hans Hofmann.
Although an early defender of American Abstract Expressionism and Colour Field Painting,
during the 1960s and well into the 1970s Patrick Heron forged his own pictorial language of
interlocking shapes rendered in intense, daring colours. Rumbold, 1968-70 (cat.9), displays
Heron’s characteristic jigsaw composition.
Other major tendencies in Abstraction include Geometrical and Lyrical Abstraction. During the
mid 1960s, Caziel (cat.11) started painting non-organic geometric forms, using the analogy with
music to convey the intent that each canvas be a self-contained unit of non-referential and
immediate visual pleasure.
Influenced by Abstract Expressionism, the work of Alan Davie (cat.12 & 13) encompasses a wide
range of influences, embracing automatic painting, Surrealism, Lyrical Abstraction and cultural
symbols, borrowed from the primitive and Zen.
Insistently abstract, John Hoyland’s Sorcerer, 1989 (cat.14) and Albert Irvin’s Linden, 1983 (cat.15)
possess an extraordinary material physicality, whilst evoking a world of emotion and imagination.
Pop Art reacted heavily against the dominance of Abstraction and introduced a revival of figurative
art. In Britain, Pop Art as a movement gathered momentum at the 1961 ‘Young Contemporaries’
exhibition where the 1958-63 generation of students at the London Royal College of Art showed
as a group. The original group included Sir Peter Blake, Derek Boshier, Pauline Boty, Allen Jones,
Peter Phillips and Colin Self. Graduated from different schools, Antony Donaldson, Adrian Henri
and Clive Barker were part of the Pop art group since its beginnings.
Male and Female Composition, 1964 (cat.17) is the largest canvas Allen Jones painted,
accomplished during his stay at the Chelsea Hotel in New York. Although stylized to their
essential properties, the male and female figures create an unambiguous sexual tension.
Likewise, Clive Barker, known for his chrome-plated casts of found objects, retains the essential
properties of the female when he turns to the traditional subject of the nude in Torso of Marianne
Faithfull, 1975 (cat. 19).
In Art-O-Matic Riding High, 1973 (cat.22) Peter Phillips parades his distinctive subject matter of
the pin-up inextricably worked into meticulous depictions of car parts and mechanical objects.
That’ll Be the Day, 1964 (cat.25) shows Antony Donalsdon’s characteristic stylised and impersonal
glamour girls, whereas Painting for Jamaican Independence, 1962 (cat.26), a virtual Pop placard,
demonstrates Adrian Henri’s preoccupation with the political events of the time. Pauline Boty
employs montage and collage to display an implicit feminism in It’s a Men’s World I and II, 1964
and 1965-66 (cat.20-21).
In parallel with Pop Art, Abstraction continued to flourish under the form of Op Art. Fascinated
with the concept of image and after-image, Michael Kidner was a pioneer of the movement. His
Brown, Mauve, Green and Ochre, 1965 (cat.27) generates an interaction of illusion and picture
plain, creating movement, patterns and vibration.
Peter Sedgley explored Op Art effects in paintings of soft-edged concentric circles, which appear
to pulsate with light and colour. The effect of Nucleus, 1966 (cat.28) is hypnotic and changes with
the movement of the viewer.
Finally, Jeremy Moon often enhanced the painted optical illusion with an irregular shape of the
canvas. In Orange Queen, 1964 (cat.29) the crucifix shape of the canvas intensifies the shifting
effect of the lozenges.
With this varied selection, the exhibition endeavors to capture the post-war optimism and
excitement, which roused the British Art scene. It reflects the spirit of an age of experiment and
‘cool’, celebrated through bold colours, large canvasses, irregular shapes, psychedelic optical
illusions and sexy Pop Art imagery to become known as the legendary Swinging Sixties.
An Jo Fermon, April 2008
1ROBYN DENNY (b. 1930)
Painting (S.T.), 1957
Oil on paper19 3/4 x 12 3/4 in / 50 x 32.5 cm Signed and dated lower rightTitled verso
EXHIBITED: 2007, Robyn Denny: Paintings, Collages, 1954 – 1968, Jonathan Clark Fine Art, London
LITTERATURE: Robyn Denny: Paintings, Collages, 1954 – 1968, Jonathan Clark Fine Art, London, 2007, exhibition catalogue, ill. cat. no. 14.
2WILLIAM GEAR (b. 1939)
L’ Arbre Morte, 1950
Oil on canvas39.76 x 31.89 in / 101 x 81 cmSigned, dated and inscribed
EXHIBITED: 1950, Paris, Salon des Réalitées Nouvelles 1982, William Gear: Paintings and Works on Paper, retrospective exhibition, British Council, Talbot Rice Art Centre, Edinburgh and IKON Gallery Birmingham
LITERATURE: William Gear: Paintings and Works on Paper, retrospective exhibition, TalbotRice Art Centre, Edinburgh and IKON Gallery Birmingham, 1982, cat. no.7.
3WILLIAM GEAR (b. 1939)
Green Landscape, 1964
Oil on panel24 x 15 in / 61 x 38 cmSigned and dated lower rightSigned and titled verso
4FRANK AVRAY WILSON (b. 1914)
Abstract Yellow, 1953
Oil on canvas41 x 16 in / 104 x 40 cmSigned lower leftDated verso
5ROBYN DENNY (b. 1930)
ADay 3 (Here and Then Series), 1968 – 73
Acrylic on canvas94 x 74 1/2 in / 239 x 189 cmSigned, dated and inscribed verso
6JOHN PLUMB (1927 – 2008)
Yellow Square, 1968
Oil on canvas72 x 72 in / 183 x 183 cm
PROVENANCE: The estate of the Artist
7PAULE VÉZELAY (1892 – 1984)
Two Red Forms, 1968
Oil on canvas28 3/4 x 45 10/16 in / 73 x 116 cmSigned and dated verso
PROVENANCE: Zabriskie Gallery, New York
EXHIBITED: 1968, Mostra Mercato d’Arte Contemporanea, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence1983, Paule Vézelay, retrospective exhibition, Tate, London1992, The Tabernacle Cultural Centre in association with the European Arts Festival
LITERATURE: R. ALLEY. Paule Vézelay, exhibition catalogue, Tate, London, 1983, cat. no. 41, ill. p.46.
8VERA SPENCER (b. 1926)
Composition “Pink”, 1963
Oil on canvas40 1/8 x 50 in / 102 x 127 cmSigned and dated lower left
EXHIBITED: 1964, Vera Spencer, the Elisabeth Gallery, Coventry1965, The London Group, London2007, Paisnel Gallery, Vera Spencer: Paintings & Collages 1950s - 1960s, London
LITERATURE: Vera Spencer, exhibition catalogue, The Elisabeth Gallery, Coventry, 1964, cat. no. 5. Vera Spencer: Paintings & Collages 1950s – 1960s, Paisnel Gallery, London, exhibition catalogue, ill. cat. no. 17.
9PATRICK HERON (1920 – 1999)
Rumbold, 1968 – 1970
Oil on canvas84 x 66 in / 213.4 x 167.6 cmSigned, dated and titled verso
PROVENANCE: The estate of the ArtistWaddington Galleries, London
10MICHAEL CANNEY (1923 – 1999)
Composition with Gold Line, 1970
Oil on canvas36 1/4 x 30 in / 92 x 76 cmSigned and dated verso
11CAZIEL (1906 – 1988)
Abstract Composition IX.1978, 1978
Acrylic on canvas63 3/4 x 54 3/8 in / 162 x 138 cmSigned, dated and titled verso
PROVENANCE: The estate of the Artist
12ALAN DAVIE (b. 1920)
Erotic Dream of a Green Bird, 1964
Oil on canvas48 x 159 3/4 in / 122 x 152 cm Signed, dated and titled verso
PROVENANCE: Private collection, Hamburg
13ALAN DAVIE (b. 1920)
Meteorologist’s Puzzle, 1961
Oil on canvas68 x 84 in / 172.5 x 213.5 cm Signed and dated verso
PROVENANCE: Corporate collection, London
14JOHN HOYLAND (b. 1934)
Sorcerer, 1989
Acrylic on canvas100 x 93 in / 254 x 236 cmSigned, dated and inscribed verso
PROVENANCE: Waddington Galleries, LondonGusman /Trump Estates, Palm BeachPrivate collection, Palm Beach
15ALBERT IRVIN (b. 1922)
Linden, 1983
Oil on canvas83 x 121 in / 213 x 305 cm
PROVENANCE: T. Dawson, London
EXHIBITED: 1983, Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Gallery, London 1983, Albert Irvin 1977-83, Third Eye Centre Gallery, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Birmingham1990, Albert Irvin – Paintings 1960-1989, Serpentine Gallery, London, Edinburgh and Cardiff1995, Albert Irvin – Paintings and Prints 1980-1995, Royal Hibernian Academy, Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
LITERATURE: Albert Irvin 1977-83, Third Eye Centre, Glasgow and tour, 1983, exhibition catalogue, ill.Albert Irvin – Paintings 1960-1989, Serpentine Gallery, London, and tour, 1990, exhibition catalogue, ill. cat. no. 24.Albert Irvin – Paintings and Prints 1980-1995, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, 1995, exhibition catalogue, ill. p.23.P. MOORHOUSE, Albert Irvin, Life to Painting, London, 1998, ill. p. 166.
16PETER BLAKE (b. 1932)
Standing Figure, 1963
Wood and bricks58 in / 145 cm highSigned underneath the figureCertificate of authenticity by Peter Blake
PROVENANCE: Private collection, Hamburg
EXHIBITED: 1992, Pop Art, Galerie Michael, Darmstadt
LITERATURE: Pop Art, Galerie Michael, Darmstadt, 1992, exhibition catalogue, ill. p. 68.
17ALLEN JONES (b. 1937)
Male and Female Composition, 1964
Oil on canvas114 1/4 x 132 1/4 in / 290 x 336 cm
PROVENANCE: Gallerie Bischofberger, ZurichPeter Stuyvesant Collection
EXHIBITED: 1965, Los Angeles, Feigen Palmer Gallery1965, Buenos Aires, Premio Di Tela Gallery 1967, Brussels, Young British Painters1967, Marzotto Prize : European Community contemporary painting exhibition : Metropolitan scene : images and objects, London, Tate Gallery
LITERATURE: Marzotto Prize : European Community contemporary painting exhibition : Metropolitan scene : images and objects, Tate Gallery, 1968, exhibition catalogue, ill. p. 101.Recent British Painting, Peter Stuyvesant Foundation Collection, 1968, cat. no. 92, ill. p. 152.
18CLIVE BARKER (b. 1940)
Pants - Red, White & Blue, 1965
Aerosol paint on canvas18 x 18 in / 45.7 x 45.7 cm Signed and dated on the canvas overlapInscribed verso
PROVENANCE: Estate of Keith Morris
19CLIVE BARKER (b. 1940)
Torso of Marianne Faithfull, 1975
Chrome plated brass and bronze24 in / 61 cm highUnique
EXHIBITED: 1980 - 1981, Nudes, Angela Flowers Gallery, London1981 – 1982, Clive Barker: Sculpture, Drawings and Prints, retrospective
exhibition, Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield and tour, cat. no. 42
LITERATURE: A. J. FERMON and M. LIVINGSTONE, Clive Barker. Sculpture. Catalogue Raisonné 1958- 2000, Milan, 2002, cat. no. 159, ill. p. 115.
20PAULINE BOTY (1938 – 1966)
It’s a Man’s World I, 1964
Oil and collage on canvas 601/4 x 48 in / 153 x 122 cmInscribed and dated verso
PROVENANCE: The estate of the Artist
EXHIBITED: 1993, The Sixties Art Scene In London, London, Barbican Art Gallery1997, Les Sixties: Great Britain and France 1962 – 1973, Brighton, Museum and Art Galley1998, Pauline Boty: The Only Blonde in the World, London, Whitford Fine Art & The Mayor Gallery
LITERATURE: D. MELLOR, The Sixties Art Scene in London, London, 1993, ill. p. 142.S. WATLING & D. A. MELLOR, Pauline Boty: The Only Blonde in the World, exhibition catalogue,Whitford Fine Art & The Mayor Gallery, London, 1998, ill. pl. 17, p. 28.
21PAULINE BOTY (1938 – 1966)
It’s a Man’s World II, 1965-1966
Oil and collage on canvas 491/4 x 491/4 in / 125 x 125 cmInscribed and dated verso
PROVENANCE: The estate of the Artist
EXHIBITED: 1966, Spring Exhibition, Bradford, Cartwright Memorial Hall1993, The Sixties Art Scene In London, London, Barbican Art Gallery 1997, Les Sixties: Great Britain and France 1962 – 1973, Brighton, Museum and Art Galley1998, Pauline Boty: The Only Blonde in the World, London, Whitford Fine Art & The Mayor Gallery
LITERATURE: D. MELLOR, The Sixties Art Scene in London, London, 1993, ill. p. 143.S. WATLING & D. A. MELLOR, Pauline Boty: The Only Blonde in the World, exhibition catalogue,Whitford Fine Art & The Mayor Gallery, London, 1998, ill. . 16, p. 29.
22PETER PHILLIPS (b. 1939)
Art-O-Matic Riding High, 1973
Acrylic on canvas78 3/4 x 59 in / 200 x 150 cmSigned and dated verso
PROVENANCE: Collection of Claude Phillips
EXHIBITED: 1982, Peter Phillips: retroVISION, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool2007, Peter Phillips: Pop, Pin-ups & Mosaics, Whitford Fine Art, London
LITERATURE: E. CRISPOLTI, Peter Phillips, Works/Opere 1960 – 1974, Milan, 1977, ill. cat. no. 83.Peter Phillips: retroVISION, exhibition catalogue, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 1982, ill. p. 53.Peter Phillips: Pop, Pin-ups & Mosaics, Whitford Fine Art, London, 2007, exhibition catalogue, ill. cat. no. 6.
23DEREK BOSHIER (b. 1937)
Viewer, 1963
Oil on canvas593/4 x 67 in / 152 x 170 cm Signed and dated verso
24COLIN SELF (b. 1945)
Gazing Woman, 1964
Coloured pencil, gold paint and pencil on paper22 x 15 1/4 in / 56 x 38.5 cmSigned and dated lower right
PROVENANCE: Private collection, Paris
25ANTONY DONALDSON (b. 1939)
That’ll Be the Day, 1964
Oil on three hardboard panels20 1/4 x 20 1/4 in / 51.5 x 51.5 cmSigned and dated verso
26ADRIAN HENRI (1932 – 1999)
Painting for Jamaican Independence, 1962No. 5 from ‘Liverpool 8’ series
Oil on hardboard48 x 36 in / 122 x 91.5 cmSigned and titled verso
PROVENANCE: George Melly, London
27MICHAEL KIDNER (b. 1917)
Brown, Mauve, Green and Ochre, 1965
Oil on canvas72 x 66 1/8 in / 183 x 168 cm
EXHIBITED: 1984-1985, Michael Kidner. Painting, Drawing, Sculpture 1959-84, Arts Council ofGreat Britain, Serpentine Gallery, London and Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne
LITERATURE: Michael Kidner. Painting, Drawing, Sculpture 1959-84, Arts Council of Great Britain, 1984, cat. no. 36.
28PETER SEDGLEY (b. 1930)
Nucleus, 1966
Oil on canvas19 7/8 x 19 7/8 in / 50.5 x 50.5 cmSigned, titled and dated verso
29JEREMY MOON (1934 – 1976)
Orange Queen, 1964
Acrylic on canvas65 x 130 in / 165 x 328 cmSigned, dated, titled and inscribed verso
PROVENANCE: Rowan Gallery, LondonSebastian de Ferranti Collection, LondonPeter Moores Collection, UK
EXHIBITED: 1965, Jeremy Moon, Rowan Gallery, London 1970, Contemporary Paintings from the Sebastian de Ferranti Collection, Whitworth Art Gallery1976, Peter Moores Collection, Arts Council of Great Britain 1976, Peter Moores Collection, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
LITERATURE: Contemporary Paintings from the Sebastian de Ferranti Collection, Whitworth Art Gallery, 1970, exhibition catalogue, ill. p. 23.Ronald ALLEY, The Sebastian Ferranti Collection, Studio International, vol. 179, no. 918, Jan. 1970, pp. 18-21, ill. p. 20.
18 Clive BARKER
19 Clive BARKER
16 Peter BLAKE
23 Derek BOSHIER
20 Pauline BOTY
21 Pauline BOTY
10 Michael CANNEY
11 CAZIEL
12 Alan DAVIE
13 Alan DAVIE
5 Robyn DENNY
1 Robyn DENNY
25 Antony DONALDSON
3 William GEAR
2 William GEAR
26 Adrian HENRI
9 Patrick HERON
14 John HOYLAND
15 Albert IRVIN
17 Allen JONES
27 Michael KIDNER
29 Jeremy MOON
22 Peter PHILLIPS
6 John PLUMB
28 Peter SEDGLEY
24 Colin SELF
8 Vera SPENCER
7 Paule VÉZELAY
4 Frank Avray WILSON
ARTISTS
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6 DUKE STREET ST. JAMES’SL O N D O N S W Y 1 6 B NTE L .+4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 7 9 3 0 9 3 3 2FA X .+4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 7 9 3 0 5 5 7 7i n f o@wh i t f o r d f i n e a r t . c omwww. w h i t f o r d f i n e a r t . c om
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