JOHN MILNES-SMITH L.G.(born 1912 – 1998)
“King of Hearts”.
Oil Painting. 76 x
61cm. Signed.
Also signed, titled & dated ’89 on reverse IMAGE
John
Milnes-Smith was a painter and collagist, notably of abstract work. He was born in Middlesex. From 1934-1938 he studied at the
Architectural Association, specialising in historic buildings, qualifying in
1939. From 1940 to 1944 war service took
him to the Far East and in 1952 he became a Member of the London Group. His painting in the late 1940s was
representational, although he fast moved towards abstraction, in 1951 being represented
in British Abstract Art at Gimpel Fils, the first of many group appearances in
the 1950s. He took part in the Metavisual,
Tachiste and Abstract Exhibition at the Redfern Gallery, London in 1957 and in 1959 he had his first solo show at new
Vision Centre, four years later beginning a long association with Drian
Galleries. In 1988 he shared a show
called Reflections of the Fifties at
England & Co., and in 1990 was given a retrospective at Austin/Desmond Fine
Art. The National Gallery in Gdansk, Poland holds his work. He
lived in London.
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