Michael Kidner, RA (British 1917-2009)
Kidner studied History and Anthropology at Cambridge University, 1936-9, after which he attended Ohio State University reading Landscape Architecture during 1940-1. After five years in the Canadian Army he enrolled at the Goldsmiths' College, taking up painting full-time in 1953. Whilst living in Paris between 1953-5, he studied at the Atelier of Andre Lhote.
Kidner held a number of teaching posts, notably in Pitlochry 1947-50, at Leicester Polytechnic 1963-4 and at the Bath Academy of Art, 1964-84. He was an artist in residence at Sussex University in 1967 and at the American University, Washington DC in 1968.
His prizes include a Gulbenkian Purchase Award and a second prize at the John Moores Exhibition, both in 1965, and Major Prize at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Exhibition. His first solo exhibition was held at Hilda's College, Oxford in 1959.
Public Collections include
Tate Gallery, London
Arts Council of Great Britain
The Berardo Collection, Staditische Galerie, Wurzburg
British Council
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Contemporary Art Society, London
Huddersfield City Art Gallery; New College, Oxford
Sussex University, University of Southampton
Manchester City Art Gallery, Manchester
University of Wales, Wales
The Government Art Collection, London
Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon
Stuyvesant Foundation, Holland
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum Sztuki, Lodz, Poland; Poznan Museum, Poland
Amos Anderson Museum, Helsinki, Finland
Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton
Norrkopings Konstmuseum, Sweden
Malmo Konsthall, Sweden
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
Muzeum Narodowe, Wroclaw, Poland
Muzeum Architektury, Wroclaw, Poland
Vanderbilt University, USA
University of East Anglia, Norwich, England
Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Germany
The Henry Moore Sculpture Trust
Sintra Museum of Modern Art, Portugal
Nuremberg Museum of Contemporary Art, Germany
Bibliography
Francis PRATT, Irving SANDLER, Michael KIDNER, Michael Kidner, Flower East, 2008
Solo Exhibitions
1959, St Hilda's College, Oxford
1962, Grabowski Gallery, London, with William Tucker
1964, Grabowski Gallery, London
1967, Axiom Gallery, London; Gardner Centre Gallery, University of Sussex, Brighton; Arnolfini, Bristol, with Malcolm Hughes; Betty Parsons Gallery, New York City, with Bruce Tippett, Michael Tyzack and John Walker
1974, Lucy Milton Gallery, London
1975, Jacomo Santiveri Gallery, Paris, with Norman Dilworth and Jeffrey Steele
1981, ON Gallery, Proznan, Poland; Kunstfackskolan, Stockholm, Sweden; Galleri Sankt Olaf, Norrkoping, Sweden, with KG Nilson
1983, Air Gallery, London; Galleri Engstrom, Stockholm, with Francis Pratt, David Saunders and Gillian Wise Ciobotaru. Tour to Norrkopings Konstmuseum and Malmo Konstall
1984, Michael Kidner; Painting, Drawing & Sculpture, 1959-84, Serpentine Gallery, London (ACGB Exhibition)1985, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle (ACGB Exhibition); Museum of Contemporary Art, Lodz, Poland. Organised by Ryszard; Stanislawski, sponsored by the British Council and Polish Government; Galeria Krzystofory, Krakow; Victoria Art Gallery, Bath; Museum Narodowe, Wroclaw, Poland
1986, Cieszyn Gallery of Contemporary Art, Poland; Joszefvarosi Kaillito Terem Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
1987, Amos Anderson Museum, Helsinki, Finland, with Matti Kujasalo and Marcello Morandini
1988, Escola De Artes Visuales, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1989, Galerie De Sluis, Leidschendam, Holland, with Fre Ilgen, Leonardo Mosso and Sigurd Rompza; Galerie St Johann, Saarbricken, West Germany, with Ilgen, Mosso and Rompza
1990; The Wave: Concepts in Construction, Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna, Austria; Mario Flecha Gallery, London; Eine Neue Raumlichkeit, Galerie Schegl, Zurich, with Ilgen, Mosso and Rompza; At-Tension to the Wave, Centre for International Contemporary Arts, New York City
1991, Galerie Bismark, Bremen
1992, Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna, Austria
1993, Oddzial Museum, Rezydeancji Ksiezymlyn, Museum Sztuki, Lodz, Poland
1993/4, Galerie Hoffmann, Friedberg, Germany
1994, Centre for the Philosophy of the Natural and Social Sciences, London
1995, Galerie Emilia Suciu, Ettlingen, Germany
1997, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds; Michael Kidner: Work in Progress, Emilia Suciu Gallery, Ettlingen, Germany
2001, Michael Kidner, Hubert Winter Gallery, Vienna
2003, Love is a Virus from Outer Space, Flowers East, London
2003, Michael Kidner, In front of his own image, Galerie Hoffmann, Friedberg, Germany
2004, Rhombic Speculations, Flowers Central, London
2006, Creationism? Muzalewska Gallery, Poznan, Poland
2007, Equilibrium Disturbed, Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, Poland; No Goals in a Quicksand, Flowers East, London
2008, The Novelty of Silkscreen, Flowers Graphics, London
2009, Dreams of the World Order 1960s. Royal Academy of Arts, London
2010, Dreams of the World Order 1960s. Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna
Group Exhibitions
2001, British Abstract Art, Gallery Flowers East Gallery, London; Le Musee de Nantes, The Madi Group, France
2002, Thinking big, Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Venice; Flowers II, Flowers Central, London
2004, Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London
Six from the Sixties, Flowers East, London
2005, Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London
Stroll On, Aspects of British Art in the Sixties, MAMCO, Geneva, Switzerland
2006, Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London
2007, Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London; Paintings from the Noughties, Letterkenny Arts Centre, Northern Ireland; Circa 1967: Works from the Arts Council Collection, Milton Keynes Gallery
2008, A Rational Aesthetic: The Systems Group and Associated Artists, Southampton City Art
Gallery; New Walls From Europe, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York; Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London
2009, Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London; Abstraction and the Human Figure in CAMs British Art Collection, Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon
2010, Mirrors of Continuous Change, Taekwang Industrial Co. Ltd, Korea; Modern Masters, Flowers Cork Street, London; Memorial, Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London; What a Relief, Flowers, Kingsland Road, London