Alan Reynolds (1926-2014)

Born in Suffolk, studied at the Woolwich Polytechnic from 1948-1952 and at the Royal College of Art from 1952-53. Throughout the 1950’s, he taught at the Central School of Arts and Crafts and began teaching at St Martin’s School of Art in 1962.

Although he originally made his reputation as  a landscape painter, the 1960’s and the influence of Europe brought about his development of a completely different abstract style. During the war he had been posted to Hanover and felt the impact of German expressionism while other British artists were focused on France. His early influences were Constable and Samuel Palmer, but he later looked to Paul Klee and Mondrian, abandoning depiction in favour of the abstract.

Reynolds has been exhibited extensively on an international scale, with representation in major permanent collections worldwide including the MoMA, New York, the Berlin National Gallery, the V&A and the Tate.

 

Alan Reynolds (1926-2014), Two Trees in Blossom, 1952

 

Board
21 ½ x 23 ½ in (54.5 x 60 cm)
Signed and dated

Collections: Sotheby’s, April 6 1960 (128) bought Captain Paul Stobart for £130; and thence by descent to the present day.

Exhibited: London, The Redfern Gallery, Alan Reynolds, June-July 1952 (71)

Two Trees in Blossom was in the second of Reynolds’ group exhibitions at the Redfern Gallery in 1952. The show consisted of twenty oils and twenty-six works on paper. The picture was priced at 25 guineas – the fourth most expensive work in the exhibition.

The artist’s rise was meteoric and by 1953 the Tate Gallery, the National Gallery of South Australia and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, had acquired pictures.

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