WORK OF THE WEEK: Robyn Denny, Ted Bentley, 1961
Robyn Denny
Ted Bentley
1961
Oil on canvas
214 x 183 cm
84 ¼ x 72 ⅛ in.
'No painting should reveal all it has to say as a kind of instant impact. Abstract painting... should be as diverse and complex and strange and unaccountable, and unnameable as an experience, as any painting of consequence has been in the past.' - Robyn Denny
Robyn Denny (1930-2014) was a leading abstract British artist, who helped to change the face of British art, particularly in the 1960s and 70s. He aided in the organisation of the exhibition Situation at the RBA Galleries in 1960, a landmark exhibition for large British abstract painting. He represented Britain at the 1966 Venice Biennale, and in 1973 was the youngest artist (at the time) to be given a retrospective at the Tate.
Ted Bentley, a large-scale oil painting on display in the Design House, is a prime example of Denny's work. A member of the Track series, Ted Bentley, Gully Foyle and Madras are characterized by vertical bands of colour. The paintings' meticulously manufactured structure have an architectural quality; evocative of a doorway, Denny always stipulated that his paintings should be hung 6 inches from the floor, so that the viewer may feel they may abandon reality, and step into another world.
Influenced by Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, Denny reacted against the tradition of British Landscape Painting and his rural upbringing; his paintings are urban, linear and future-oriented. He deliberately removed visible brushwork, using flat colours and graphic clarity to portray a minimal narrative. What with the added effect of its size, Ted Bentley dominates the viewer, exuding power and prestige, much like the car brand. As Martin Holman explains in his essay, Robyn Denny, ‘The colours in Ted Bentley –the viewer’s sense of space, of foreground or background – shifts before the viewer’s eyes, albeit with none of the dizzying effects of a Bridget Riley. Instead, it is more a slow reveal, felt less in the eye, more by the entire body.’
Robyn Denny was born in 1930 in Abinger, Surrey, and died at his home in Linars, France. He studied at St Martin's School of Art (1951-54) and the Royal College (1954-57). He has had many solo and group exhibitions internationally and has work in public collections including the Tate, London; MoMA, New York, USA; Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal and Art Institute, Chicago, USA.