Robyn Denny (British b. 1930)
After studying in London at the St Martin's School of Art, 1951-54, and at the Royal College of Art, 1954-7, Robyn Denny took a teaching post at the Hammersmith College of Art between 1957-9, the Bath Academy of Art, 1959-65 and the Slade School of Arts in London. He exhibited at the Young Contemporaries in 1953 and in 1958 had his first solo show at the Gallery One, London.
Denny was among the prominent young British artists who took part in the Situation exhibition of 1960, which was intended to act as a showcase for new British abstract painting. He was the first artist in England to respond to American abstract expressionism and to establish a style free of natural associations. In order to emphasise the objectivity of his paintings, at one point he exhibited them resting on the floor, on the spectator's own ground.
He represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1966 and in 1973 a retrospective exhibition was held at the Tate Gallery, London.
Denny has contributed criticism for international art magazines such as Das Kunstwerk and Art International.
Public collections include
Daimler Chrysler Collection, Berlin
Peter Stuyvesant Collection, Amsterdam
Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran
Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon
Tate Gallery, London
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Arts Council of England, UK
The British Council, UK
Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Art Institute, Chicago
Bibliography
D. ALAN MELLOR, The Art of Robyn Denny, Black Dog Publishing Ltd, 2002
Robyn Denny, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, 1973
D. THOMPSON, Robyn Denny, Chivers, 1971
D. THOMPSON, Five Young British Artists, XXXIII Venice Biennale, 1966
Solo Exhibitions
2008, Jonathan Clark Fine Art, London, and Laurent Delaye, London
2007, Jonathan Clark Fine Art, London, in Association with Laurent Delaye
2004, Hirschl Contemporary Art, London
2002, Hirschl Contemporary Art, London
2001, Hirschl Contemporary Art, London
1992, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London
1985, Fine Arts Gallery, U.C. Irvine, California
1982, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, Los Angeles
1981, Jacobson/Hochman Gallery, New York
1980, Aronson Gallery, Atlanta
1979, Bernard Jacobson Ltd., London Bernard Jacobson Ltd., New York Aronson Gallery, Atlanta Jacobson/Hochman Gallery, New York
1978, Festival Gallery, Bath
1977, Waddington Gallery, London. Also shown at Tooth Gallery, London
1976, Galleria Morone, Milan
1975, Galleria La Polena, Genova Jacques Damase Gallery, Brussels Neue Galerie, Linz Galerie Modulo, Porto
1974, Marlborough Gallery, Rome Galleria del Cavillino, Venice Galleria L'Approdo, Turin Galleria Rondanini, Rome Galerie Wentzel, Hamburg Galerie Wellman, Dusseldorf Santiveri Gallery, Paris Galerie Jacomo-Sontiveri, Paris
1973, Robyn Denny Tate Gallery, London, touring to Wurttengergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, and Stadtisches Museum, Leverkusen. Studio la Citta, Verona Galerie T, Amsterdam
1972, Galerie Ziegler, Geneva
1971, Galerie Mikro, Berlin Galerie Müller, Cologne
1971, Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol
1970, Galerie Muller, Stuttgart. Also show in Cologne Kasmin Gallery, London Robert Elkon Gallery, New York
1969, Kasmin Gallery, London
1968, René Ziegler, Zurich Forum Stadtpark, Graz
1967, Kasmin Gallery, London Robert Elkon Gallery, New York
1966, Robert Ekon Gallery, New York
1964, Kasmin Gallery, London
1963, Galerie Muller, Stuttgart
1962, Galleria Scacchi Gracco
1961, Molton Gallery, London
1958, Gallery One, London Gimpel Fils, London