Alan Reynolds

Richard Attenborough
Galerie Haas, Berlin
Nick Holmes Fine Art, Brinton, where acquired by the present owner in November 2005

J. P. Hodin, Alan Reynolds: The Redfern Artists Series, Fisher, Knight & Co., St. Albans, 1962, illustrated on the cover and internally (unpaginated).

The board is sound. There is a tiny fleck of paint loss in the upper right corner and there is some minor frame abrasion. There is a fine layer of surface dust and the surface may benefit well from a light clean. Otherwise in good overall condition. UV light reveals an area of retouching in the upper right corner, a few spots of retouching along the right edge and further small spots in the lower corners. Held in a painted wood frame with a canvas inset. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 5381 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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'What I desire in my painting is structure and through that structure, poetry - the kind of poetry which is instinct with abstract visual form. I begin with a few simple shapes or forms and then improvise intuitively. It is the image - the thing itself that for me is important.'
Alan Reynolds, quoted in J.P. Hodin, Alan Reynolds, The Redfern Artists Series, London, 1962.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Reynolds began to shift towards more structural, abstract compositions and away from the landscape paintings he had previously exhibited with great success at the Redfern Gallery. This shift was not as abrupt as it might originally appear, as both the landscapes and the abstract pieces are, as Michael Harrison comments, 'based on the play between vertical and horizontal, what [Reynolds] came to see as our essential relationship with landscape' (Alan Reynolds, exh. cat., Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, 2003, pp. 17-20.). The later abstracts at first incorporated 'geometric forms... including circular shapes, sometimes with black or primary colours, and then [became] purely rectilinear and eventually just white' (ibid, pp. 17-20). The present work combines an underlying structure with an intuitive response to form, creating a balance and harmony which has continually been at the heart of Reynolds' work.