Bryan Kneale RA (b. 1930)

Kneale comes from the Isle of Man. He studied painting at the Douglas School of Art before moving to the Royal Academy Schools where he won the prestigious Rome Prize in 1948. He lived in Italy and from the early 1950’s showed at the Redfern Gallery initially as a painter but from the end of the decade he worked exclusively as a sculptor.

He taught sculpture at the Royal College of Art from 1963 until 1995, and was the first abstract sculptor to be elected a Royal Academician (in 1974).

Kneale is the younger brother of the screenwriter Nigel Kneale, best known for the Quatermass television series.

Bryan Kneale RA (b. 1930), Lobster, 1954

Bryan Kneale RA (b. 1930), Lobster

 

Canvas
28 x 36 in (71.5 x 92 cm)
Signed and dated

Collection: Lord Richard Attenborough (1924 -2014); Bonhams, October 2015; Private Collection, Gt Britain
Exhibited: Redfern Gallery Bryan Kneale 1954
Literature: Brian Catling et al Bryan Kneale, 2018, p.39-40 (ill.)

Kneale was born on the Isle of Man, moving to London in 1947 to study at the Royal Academy Schools. He was immediately successful, winning the Rome Prize in 1948, the Leverhulme Trust Prize in 1952, as well as the Daily Express Young Painters’ Prize in 1955.
This picture was part of his first one-man exhibition at the Redfern Gallery in 1954; a number of pictures were bought by the Leicester Museums and the exhibition was a critical success. Kneale was commissioned to paint a series of portraits of grandees in the 50’s, such as Sir Herbert Read, Charles Laughton and Michael Redgrave but, by the end of the decade, he abandoned painting in favour of sculpture.
Andrew Lambirth writes of the picture’s ‘’ surprising delicacy’’. Lobsters and cray fish are popular subjects for Kneale and he was always fascinated by the complicated interplay of the crustacean’s claws and legs.

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