JAMES HYMAN FINE ART presents a special exhibition focused on the 1956 British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, an important moment in the history of twentieth century British art.
The British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of 1956 is today chiefly remembered for its presentation of the kitchen-sink painters - John Bratby, Derrick Greaves, Edward Middleditch and Jack Smith. Certainly, it was a high point in their careers, but the Pavilion also included a gallery of paintings by Ivon Hitchens and another of sculptures by Lynn Chadwick. As such it provides a remarkable distillation of three of the main trends in British Art of the post-war period: the social realism promoted by John Berger, the perceptual abstraction championed by Patrick Heron and the edgy sculpture that Herbert Read characterised as 'a geometry of fear'.
James Hyman presents major works by Ivon Hitchens and Lynn Chadwick, as well as by John Bratby, Derrick Greaves, Edward Middleditch and Jack Smith to evoke the Pavilion and address the importance of this moment. As with the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, the London Art Fair exhibition will allow works by Ivon Hitchens to be glimpsed from the space occupied by the kitchen sink painters, to provide viewers with an opportunity to compare and contrast these very different responses to the environment.
The exhibition will also address the ways in which these artists work developed after the Venice Biennale.
