Guest post: Peter Knock pays tribute to Robyn Denny (1930-2014)
//Robyn Denny, early 60s. Photo: Bernard Jacobson Gallery//
Artist/illustrator Peter Knock pays tribute to the British ‘Situation’ painter Robyn Denny, who has died:
Sad to learn of the death of abstract painter Robyn Denny last Tuesday (May 20). It surprised me that he was, in fact, 83; my image of him is locked into the 60s when he was one of the hip and talented artists to have emerged from the Royal College of Art (where he studied in the 50s).
Great Big Biggest Wide London, Denny’s mural for Austin Reed’s Regent Street store, conveyed classic 1960s new age optimism, and received the ultimate seal of approval as a piece defining of its era when The Beatles asked to be photographed standing in front of it in 1963.
//Golem I (Rout Of San Romano), oil paint, paper and card on hardboard, 1518 x 2438mm, 1957-8. Tate//
//Collage (Austin Reed, Version I), paper and gouache on board, 264 x 273mm, 1959. Tate.//
//Great Big Biggest Wide London, collage/mural, 1959//
While Denny’s paintings were inspired by urban imagery and architecture, the subtle and understated approach ensured he would not enjoy the broader appeal of contemporaries such as Richard Smith, Patrick Caulfield and Peter Blake.
//Life Line I, oil on canvas, 2134 x 1829mm, 1963. Tate//
Markedly different in scale (Denny’s work could be fairly large) the language of his pieces shared much with the paintings of Josef Albers. I enjoyed Denny’s symmetrically composed, highly considered colour palette, paintings and prints; they possessed a terrific overall sense of calm and mystery.
There are 85 Denny works in the Tate collection – view them here.
Read Tom Overton on Denny on the British Council’s website here.
Visit Peter Knock’s site here.