Graphic Journey Blog

Keith Cunningham: Out from the dark

Keith Cunningham in his Battersea studio 1956. And the finished painting below.

Last night saw the opening of the late Keith Cunningham's show at Hoxton Gallery. After 5 decades his unseen paintings have seen the light of day. And the reaction has been terrific. I am personally delight having written about him 15 years ago about his contribution to the graphic world. In the process, I managed to get this deeply private man to talk about his never seen paintings. 

 

Born in Sydney in 1929, Cunningham arrived in post-war London in 1949, where he attended Central School of Art. Following on, he was offered a place at the Royal College of Art along with a bursary and, at the suggestion of tutor Abram Games, he went to see Rodrigo Moynihan, then the head of painting. Moynihan offered him a place on the fine art course. Here, he worked alongside fellow students and new friends Joe Tilson, Frank Auerbach, Leon Kossoff and David Methuen-Campbell. He worked furiously in this heady atmosphere of creativity at the RCA.

The results impressed a clutch of Royal Academicians, including Sir Roger de Grey, Carel Weight and John Minton, with the latter stating that Cunningham was “one of the most gifted painters to have been at the Royal College”. Cunningham left the RCA with an impressive First, along with a travelling and continuation scholarship. He opted to explore Spain, after which he returned to London to complete his scholarship. During his RCA period, he exhibited at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition, the Beaux Arts Gallery and, for two consecutive years, the prestigious London Group show; this culminated in Cunningham being asked to submit work for full membership to the group –he declined.

"... he was always a bit quiet and mysterious,

but I was very interested in him

and had a respect for his outstanding talent."

Frank Auerbach on Keith Cunningham, August 2016

He then made the extraordinary decision to withdraw completely from any further public exhibition of his paintings. Instead, he worked in the solitary atmosphere of his studio in Battersea, where he would travel each day to work on his canvases. It was here, with eternal smoking Gauloises in hand, that he would pour out his emotions, striking, stabbing and scraping the canvases into life.

The sheer physicality of his work is very evident in the layers of manipulated paint and texture, creating a visceral, brooding intensity that vibrates the longer you gaze. Whatever was going through Cunningham’s mind in that lonely studio, it is encapsulated in this small selection of paintings from the impressive body of work that he has left behind.

Keith Cunningham: Unseen paintings 1954 - 1960 continues until 13th October. 11am to 6 pm Monday to Saturday

Hoxton Gallery 59 Old Street London EC1V 9HX

 

Trademarks/symbols/logos

The British Steel is one the great UK symbols. It was designed by David Gentleman in 1969 and was in use for 30 years.

Three years before, in 1966, this book was published...

It was part of a wonderful series of books published by Studio Vista. This one was written and designed by Peter Wildbur and a forerunner to the many logo books produced in recent years at an ever increasing rate.
Simple clean and logical it still shines 50 years on.

Things I like...

Two perfect 1960's period pieces from the great Romek Marber...

Catalogue cover 1962

Poster for the London Planetarium 1967

Milton Glaser: Visual Soliloquy

"Beauty itself doth of itself persuade,
The eyes of men without an orator".

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE

In this the 400th anniversary year of the death of William Shakespeare, I thought it fitting to feature some of Milton Glaser's extremely delicate illustrated covers for the Signet books Shakespeare series from the early 1960s.

Glaser's fine line ink drawings still look wonderful, and every bit as distinctive as the British Penguin series designed and illustrated by David Gentleman, also produced in the 1960’s. Both are not only evocative of their period but have remarkably transcended time and style. 

And even the back covers are typographically sensitive.

French letter

French cinema can be so rewarding because of it's well, Frenchness. Moreover, there is something about the honesty of many French actors to not care about showing their age and deteriorating physicality unlike many of their American movie star counterparts.

Valley Of Love is one such film starring the wonderful Isabelle Huppert and an extraordinary bear like Gerard Depardieu who is carrying a lot of weight these days but is not afraid to let it all hang out.

The action takes place entirely in the sweltering heat of California’s Death Valley and the kitchness of American pseudo ranches like hotels and their dreadful interiors and endless country and western music.

Ex-married couple Huppert and Depardieu, who also happen to be called Isabelle and Gerard in the film and both are actors to boot, are brought together following the suicide of their 25-year-old son who left them each a letter. In it, he tells them that on a specific day and time he will reappear for just a short time to meet them, but they must follow the precise set of instructions set out in the letter. We follow them each day on their arduous trips to various locations in Death Valley during the midday sun. They spend their evenings running over why their son killed himself with much recrimination of their own behaviour and some painful realisations. As the film progresses director Guillaume Nicloux manages to create an increasingly surreal and disturbing atmosphere. I won't spoil the ending, save to say, that it has a classic French exit and the whole thing was a pleasure to experience.

Here's the trailer