Post-War to Pop, Modern British Art: Abstraction, Pop & Op Art

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P O S T- W A R TO POP

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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

WHITFORD F I N E A R T

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POST-WAR TO POP Modern British Art, highlighting the movements of Abstraction, Pop and Op Art

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

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

1 ROBYN DENNY (b. 1930)

Painting (S.T.), 1957 Oil on paper 19 3/4 x 12 3/4 in / 50 x 32.5 cm Signed and dated lower right Titled 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.

2 WILLIAM GEAR (b. 1939)

L’ Arbre Morte, 1950 Oil on canvas 39.76 x 31.89 in / 101 x 81 cm Signed, 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, Talbot Rice Art Centre, Edinburgh and IKON Gallery Birmingham, 1982, cat. no.7.

3 WILLIAM GEAR (b. 1939)

Green Landscape, 1964 Oil on panel 24 x 15 in / 61 x 38 cm Signed and dated lower right Signed and titled verso

4 FRANK AVRAY WILSON (b. 1914)

Abstract Yellow, 1953 Oil on canvas 41 x 16 in / 104 x 40 cm Signed lower left Dated verso

5 ROBYN DENNY (b. 1930)

ADay 3 (Here and Then Series), 1968 – 73 Acrylic on canvas 94 x 74 1/2 in / 239 x 189 cm Signed, dated and inscribed verso

6 JOHN PLUMB (1927 – 2008)

Yellow Square, 1968 Oil on canvas 72 x 72 in / 183 x 183 cm

PROVENANCE:

The estate of the Artist

7 PAULE VÉZELAY (1892 – 1984)

Two Red Forms, 1968 Oil on canvas 28 3/4 x 45 10/16 in / 73 x 116 cm Signed and dated verso

PROVENANCE:

Zabriskie Gallery, New York

EXHIBITED:

1968, Mostra Mercato d’Arte Contemporanea, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence 1983, Paule Vézelay, retrospective exhibition, Tate, London 1992, 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.

8 VERA SPENCER (b. 1926)

Composition “Pink”, 1963 Oil on canvas 40 1/8 x 50 in / 102 x 127 cm Signed and dated lower left

EXHIBITED:

1964, Vera Spencer, the Elisabeth Gallery, Coventry 1965, The London Group, London 2007, 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.

9 PATRICK HERON (1920 – 1999)

Rumbold, 1968 – 1970 Oil on canvas 84 x 66 in / 213.4 x 167.6 cm Signed, dated and titled verso

PROVENANCE:

The estate of the Artist Waddington Galleries, London

10 MICHAEL CANNEY (1923 – 1999)

Composition with Gold Line, 1970 Oil on canvas 36 1/4 x 30 in / 92 x 76 cm Signed and dated verso

11 CAZIEL (1906 – 1988)

Abstract Composition IX.1978, 1978 Acrylic on canvas 63 3/4 x 54 3/8 in / 162 x 138 cm Signed, dated and titled verso

PROVENANCE:

The estate of the Artist

12 ALAN DAVIE (b. 1920)

Erotic Dream of a Green Bird, 1964 Oil on canvas 48 x 159 3/4 in / 122 x 152 cm Signed, dated and titled verso

PROVENANCE:

Private collection, Hamburg

13 ALAN DAVIE (b. 1920)

Meteorologist’s Puzzle, 1961 Oil on canvas 68 x 84 in / 172.5 x 213.5 cm Signed and dated verso

PROVENANCE:

Corporate collection, London

14 JOHN HOYLAND (b. 1934)

Sorcerer, 1989 Acrylic on canvas 100 x 93 in / 254 x 236 cm Signed, dated and inscribed verso

PROVENANCE:

Waddington Galleries, London Gusman /Trump Estates, Palm Beach Private collection, Palm Beach

15 ALBERT IRVIN (b. 1922)

Linden, 1983 Oil on canvas 83 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 Birmingham 1990, Albert Irvin – Paintings 1960-1989, Serpentine Gallery, London, Edinburgh and Cardiff 1995, 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.

16 PETER BLAKE (b. 1932)

Standing Figure, 1963 Wood and bricks 58 in / 145 cm high Signed underneath the figure Certificate 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.

17 ALLEN JONES (b. 1937)

Male and Female Composition, 1964 Oil on canvas 114 1/4 x 132 1/4 in / 290 x 336 cm

PROVENANCE:

Gallerie Bischofberger, Zurich Peter Stuyvesant Collection

EXHIBITED:

1965, Los Angeles, Feigen Palmer Gallery 1965, Buenos Aires, Premio Di Tela Gallery 1967, Brussels, Young British Painters 1967, 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.

18 CLIVE BARKER (b. 1940)

Pants - Red, White & Blue, 1965 Aerosol paint on canvas 18 x 18 in / 45.7 x 45.7 cm Signed and dated on the canvas overlap Inscribed verso

PROVENANCE: Estate of Keith Morris

19 CLIVE BARKER (b. 1940)

Torso of Marianne Faithfull, 1975 Chrome plated brass and bronze 24 in / 61 cm high Unique

EXHIBITED:

1980 - 1981, Nudes, Angela Flowers Gallery, London 1981 – 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.

20 PAULINE BOTY (1938 – 1966)

It’s a Man’s World I, 1964 Oil and collage on canvas 601/4 x 48 in / 153 x 122 cm Inscribed and dated verso

PROVENANCE: The estate of the Artist EXHIBITED:

1993, The Sixties Art Scene In London, London, Barbican Art Gallery 1997, Les Sixties: Great Britain and France 1962 – 1973, Brighton, Museum and Art Galley 1998, 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.

21 PAULINE 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 cm Inscribed and dated verso

PROVENANCE:

The estate of the Artist

EXHIBITED:

1966, Spring Exhibition, Bradford, Cartwright Memorial Hall 1993, The Sixties Art Scene In London, London, Barbican Art Gallery 1997, Les Sixties: Great Britain and France 1962 – 1973, Brighton, Museum and Art Galley 1998, 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.

22 PETER PHILLIPS (b. 1939)

Art-O-Matic Riding High, 1973 Acrylic on canvas 78 3/4 x 59 in / 200 x 150 cm Signed and dated verso

PROVENANCE:

Collection of Claude Phillips

EXHIBITED:

1982, Peter Phillips: retroVISION, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool 2007, 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.

23 DEREK BOSHIER (b. 1937)

Viewer, 1963 Oil on canvas 593/4 x 67 in / 152 x 170 cm Signed and dated verso

24 COLIN SELF (b. 1945)

Gazing Woman, 1964 Coloured pencil, gold paint and pencil on paper 22 x 15 1/4 in / 56 x 38.5 cm Signed and dated lower right

PROVENANCE:

Private collection, Paris

25 ANTONY DONALDSON (b. 1939)

That’ll Be the Day, 1964 Oil on three hardboard panels 20 1/4 x 20 1/4 in / 51.5 x 51.5 cm Signed and dated verso

26 ADRIAN HENRI (1932 – 1999)

Painting for Jamaican Independence, 1962 No. 5 from ‘Liverpool 8’ series Oil on hardboard 48 x 36 in / 122 x 91.5 cm Signed and titled verso

PROVENANCE:

George Melly, London

27 MICHAEL KIDNER (b. 1917)

Brown, Mauve, Green and Ochre, 1965 Oil on canvas 72 x 66 1/8 in / 183 x 168 cm

EXHIBITED:

1984-1985, Michael Kidner. Painting, Drawing, Sculpture 1959-84, Arts Council of Great 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.

28 PETER SEDGLEY (b. 1930)

Nucleus, 1966 Oil on canvas 19 7/8 x 19 7/8 in / 50.5 x 50.5 cm Signed, titled and dated verso

29 JEREMY MOON (1934 – 1976)

Orange Queen, 1964 Acrylic on canvas 65 x 130 in / 165 x 328 cm Signed, dated, titled and inscribed verso

PROVENANCE:

Rowan Gallery, London Sebastian de Ferranti Collection, London Peter Moores Collection, UK

EXHIBITED:

1965, Jeremy Moon, Rowan Gallery, London 1970, Contemporary Paintings from the Sebastian de Ferranti Collection, Whitworth Art Gallery 1976, 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 16 23 20 21 10 11 12

Clive BARKER

13 5 1 25 3 2 26 9 14 15 17 27 29 22 6 28 24 8 7 4

Alan DAVIE

Peter BLAKE Derek BOSHIER Pauline BOTY Pauline BOTY Michael CANNEY CAZIEL Alan DAVIE

Robyn DENNY Robyn DENNY Antony DONALDSON William GEAR William GEAR Adrian HENRI Patrick HERON John HOYLAND Albert IRVIN Allen JONES Michael KIDNER Jeremy MOON Peter PHILLIPS John PLUMB Peter SEDGLEY Colin SELF Vera SPENCER Paule VÉZELAY Frank Avray WILSON

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ARTISTS

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P O S T- W A R TO POP

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