Michael Kidner
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Michael James Kidner (11 September 1917 – 2009) was a British
op art Op art, short for optical art, is a style of visual art that uses optical illusions. Op artworks are abstract, with many better-known pieces created in black and white. Typically, they give the viewer the impression of movement, hidden images ...
ist. Active from mid-1960s, Kidner was an early exponent of the genre. Through his interest in mathematics, he was part of the
Constructivism Constructivism may refer to: Art and architecture * Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes * Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...
movement and
chaos Chaos or CHAOS may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional elements * Chaos (''Kinnikuman'') * Chaos (''Sailor Moon'') * Chaos (''Sesame Park'') * Chaos (''Warhammer'') * Chaos, in ''Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy'' * Cha ...
and wave theories influence his work.


Early life

Kidner was born in Kettering, the son of an industrialist and was one of six children. He was educated at
Bedales School Bedales School is a co-educational, boarding and day independent school in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley in reaction to the limitations of conventio ...
, and from 1939 read History and Anthropology at
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
before studying Landscape Architecture at
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
. He was staying with his older sister and her American husband in the US when war broke out in Europe. Unable to return home, he joined the
Canadian army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...
for five years. He was subsequently posted to England and after
D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...
saw active service in France in the
Royal Canadian Corps of Signals The Royal Canadian Corps of Signals (RCCS or RC Sigs; french: links=no, Corps des transmissions royal du Canada, CTRC) is a component within the Canadian Armed Forces' Communications and Electronics Branch, consisting of all members of that person ...
. After demobilisation in 1946, he enrolled at
Goldsmiths University Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...
to study for a National Diploma in Art and Design but withdrew after three months. From 1947–50, Kidner taught at Pitlochry Prep School in Perthshire and it was here that he started to paint as a hobby. In 1949 he met and married his wife Marion Frederick, an American actress. From 1951 to 1952 he worked as a theatre designer in
Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...
and
Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...
whilst continuing to paint.


Career


Early career

During a painting holiday in the south of France, Kidner met
André Lhote André Lhote (5 July 1885 – 24 January 1962) was a French Cubist painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes and still life. He was also active and influential as a teacher and writer on art. Early life and education Lhote was born ...
who introduced him to
Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
and encouraged him to move to Paris and become a full-time painter. He travelled to Paris in 1953 where he sporadically attended Lhote's
atelier An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or v ...
. After two years he returned to North Devon where his brother was working as a GP. He moved to St Ives for several months where he became acquainted with Trevor Bell,
Roger Hilton Roger Hilton CBE (1911–1975) was a pioneer of abstract art in post-Second World War Britain. Often associated with the 'middle generation' of St Ives painters – Terry Frost, Patrick Heron, Peter Lanyon & Bryan Wynter – he spent much o ...
,
Terry Frost Sir Terence Ernest Manitou Frost RA (13 October 1915 – 1 September 2003) was a British abstract artist, who worked in Newlyn, Cornwall. Frost was renowned for his use of the Cornish light, colour and shape to start a new art movement in ...
,
Patrick Heron Patrick Heron (30 January 1920 – 20 March 1999) was a British abstract and figurative artist, critic, writer, and polemicist, who lived in Zennor, Cornwall. Heron was recognised as one of the leading painters of his generation. Influenced b ...
, and
Peter Lanyon George Peter Lanyon (8 February 1918 – 31 August 1964) was a British painter of landscapes leaning heavily towards abstraction. Lanyon was one of the most important artists to emerge in post-war Britain. Despite his early death at the age ...
. On moving to London in 1957, Kidner was introduced to the New American Painting exhibition at the
Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
where he saw the
Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...
of
Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a hor ...
and
Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter El ...
. Kidner later became influenced by
Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Latv ...
's colour field paintings. These inspired his ''After Image'' paintings, sculptures and reliefs, executed between 1957 and 1962. Kidner attended a 1959 course run by
Victor Pasmore Edwin John Victor Pasmore, CH, CBE (3 December 190823 January 1998) was a British artist. He pioneered the development of abstract art in Britain in the 1940s and 1950s. Early life Pasmore was born in Chelsham, Surrey, on 3 December 1908. He s ...
and
Harry Thubron Harry Thubron OBE (Henry James Thubron, 1915–1985) was an English artist and art teacher. He made radical innovations in art education which are still controversial today. Life Thubron was born on 24 November 1915 at 7 Victoria Avenue, Bi ...
which alerted him to the
Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...
derived ideas of colour and led him towards a more objective use of colour. Kidner's first solo exhibition was held at
St Hilda's College, Oxford St Hilda's College is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon Saint, Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a hall for women; it ...
in 1959 where he showed his ''After Image'' paintings. In 1965 his work was featured in the
op art Op art, short for optical art, is a style of visual art that uses optical illusions. Op artworks are abstract, with many better-known pieces created in black and white. Typically, they give the viewer the impression of movement, hidden images ...
exhibition ''The Responsive Eye'' at the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
in New York, along with that of
Bridget Riley Bridget Louise Riley (born 24 April 1931) is an English painter known for her op art paintings. She lives and works in London, Cornwall and the Vaucluse in France. Early life and education Riley was born on 24 April 1931 in West Norwood, No ...
.


Mature career


''After Image'' (1959)

Kidner said that "
optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviole ...
presents a challenge that was once offered by perspective".Sandler Irving. ''Michael Kidner'' "No Goals In Quicksand, " Exhibition Catalogue (Flowers East 2007), He was referring to the examination of visual perception in the science of linear perspective developed by
Leon Battista Alberti Leon Battista Alberti (; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer; he epitomised the nature of those identified now as polymaths. H ...
and other
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
artists in the 15th century. Kidner was also interested in the work of
Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , , ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as Divisionism, chromoluminarism and pointillism and used Conté, conté crayon for drawings on pa ...
and the Neo Impressionists who had investigated the connection between the
retina The retina (from la, rete "net") is the innermost, light-sensitive layer of tissue of the eye of most vertebrates and some molluscs. The optics of the eye create a focused two-dimensional image of the visual world on the retina, which then ...
and the brain regarding colour perception, as seen in their
Pointillist Pointillism (, ) is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term "Pointillism" wa ...
paintings. Rothko's colour field abstractions led Kidner to see colour as "pure sensation". Later, Kidner's ''After Image'' works became hard-edged with flat uniform patterns, when he realised that optical activity producing shimmer is decreased by brushy paintwork and varied shapes.


''Stripe'' (1961)

''After Image'' became too limited for Kidner. He found that he wanted to approach colour in a more rational way, and began a series of striped paintings using two alternating colours.


''Moire'' (1963)

By 1963, Kidner felt two colours was limiting, and an article on the Moiré effect in ''
Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...
'' showed him how he could introduce a third colour. The effect was first discovered in Japanese silks, when the material was folded, optical patterns and colours floated above the actual patterns and colour of the material. This method produced a dramatic effect when Kidner crossed two colour bands with a third at a slight angle, resulting in a completely new pattern, with a wave-like vertical image coming into view.Sandler Irving, 'Michael Kidner. ''At Tension to the Wave, '' Exhibition Catalogue (Centre for International Arts, New York, 1990)


''Wave'' (1969) and ''Columnns'' (1971)

The appearance of the wave captivated Kidner and wave theory became his obsession as he realised that a wave pattern produces many more possibilities than straight lines because waves can be put in or out of
phase Phase or phases may refer to: Science *State of matter, or phase, one of the distinct forms in which matter can exist *Phase (matter), a region of space throughout which all physical properties are essentially uniform * Phase space, a mathematic ...
. As well as optical effects, he was interested in distinguishing
form Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form also refers to: *Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data ...
from colour. He applied three colours to four forms in rotation so that no form could be identified by a particular colour. This can be seen in his print ''Sussex'' (1967). In 1969, Kidner co–founded the Systems Group with
Jeffrey Steele Jeffrey LeVasseur (born August 27, 1961), known as Jeffrey Steele, is an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with recording his own material, Steele has become a prolific Nashville songwriter, having co-written more than 60 hit ...
and others. Around this time, the notion of colour as form urged Kidner on to do a columnar sculpture of a wave. At this stage he became interested in
number theory Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic function, integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777 ...
as the key to "the nature of order" and "the structure of reality", and was influenced by the work of Lohse. Kidner meticulously translated the column into a two-dimensional form as a painting by using a systematic method of measurements and colour-coding as seen in 1979's ''Column in Front of Its Own Image II''.


''Grids and Lattices'' (1973) and ''Stretched Elastic'' (1987)

At this stage Kidner began to be interested in the spaces between the lines and crisscross wavy lines began to emerge in his work, culminating in grids and lattices. These were sometimes in phase creating identical spaces in between and then sometimes out of phase so the spaces in between did not repeat. Kidner used this structure as a basis for creating many variations of this principle and stated that "the endless number of linear intersections both offer and resist any sort of visual resolution." Continuing with his investigation of grids and lattices, Kidner experimented with various materials. He stretched and distorted elastic cloth on moveable wooden frames in geometrical shapes in order to arrive at unexpected shapes, thus introducing randomness, instability, and change into his art. He felt that constructive art needed to take into account disorder as well as order.


''Pentagon'' (1999)

By 1999, chaos theory became a profound influence on Kidner's work and geometric abstraction in the form of Penrose pentagons reprinted on paper became a critical tool as a metaphor for ordering the chaos in the world. This was Kidner's response to the many
dystopian A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
world events, such as
global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
, war,
ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal, extermination, deportation or population transfer ...
, terrorism and intense
nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
. Kidner was intrigued by the fact that his pentagon patterns looked chaotic. His use of colour in these works was often random; colour formerly clarified the grid in his work, it now subverted it. He now invested more value in unplanned elements in his work. He wondered if there may be in chaos "some kind of order that perhaps we haven't yet recognised." In his last decade, Kidner's work became more colourful and free. Titles such as ''Entangled Hyacinth Bulbs'' (2007), ''Invasion of Iraq: Surprise Resistance'' (2007), and ''Particle Evolution: The End of the Tunnel at CERN'' (2008) indicate their subject matter.


Later career

Kidner taught at numerous art schools, including the
Bath Academy of Art Bath School of Art and Design is an art college in Bath, England, now known separately as Bath School of Art and Bath School of Design. It forms part of the Bath Spa University whose main campus is located a few miles from the City at Newton Par ...
(1962–82), the
Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...
(1975–79), and the
Chelsea College of Art Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation. It offers further and higher educat ...
(1981–85). In 1978 he was invited by
Stass Paraskos Stass Paraskos ( el, Στας Παράσκος; 17 March 1933 – 4 March 2014) was an artist from Cyprus, although much of his life was spent teaching and working in England. Early life Paraskos was born in Anaphotia, a village near the city ...
to be an
artist-in-residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...
at the
Cyprus College of Art The Cyprus College of Art (CyCA) is an artists' studio group, located in the village of Lempa, Cyprus, Lempa on the west coast of Cyprus. It was founded in 1969 by the artist Stass Paraskos; the current director is the Cyprus-based artist Margaret ...
arts centre in
Paphos Paphos ( el, Πάφος ; tr, Baf) is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and New Paphos. The current city of Pap ...
, Cyprus.Michael Paraskos, et al, ''Stass Paraskos'' (London: Orage Press, 2010) Kidner's work was included in collections at
Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...
, the
Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
, and the
British Arts Council The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...
. In 2004, he was elected as a senior
Royal Academician The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
.


Later life and death

Kidner was predeceased by his son in 1980 and his wife Marion in 2004. He suffered from progressive cerebella ataxia and had
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
. Until late 2009, he continued to work in his studio with the help and support of artists Adrian Richardson and Timothy Sawyer Shepard. Kidner's last show, ''Dreams of the World Order'', took place at the Royal Academy in September 2009. Kidner died two months later at the age of 92.


Bibliography

;Exhibition catalogues *''Love Is a Virus from Outer Space'' atalogue of the exhibition held at Flowers East 2003London. *''Michael Kidner: At-tension to the Wave'' atalogue of the exhibition held at Center for International Contemporary Arts, 1990New York. *''Micheal Kidner RA: Dreams of the World Order 1960s'' atalogue of the exhibition held at Flowers East 25 September – 9 December 2009London. *''Michael Kidner: No Goals in a Quicksand'' atalogue of the exhibition held at Flowers East 14 September – 13 October 2007London.


References


External links

*
michaelkidner.comFlowers gallerysculpture.org.ukWhitfordfineart.comTate gallery archivesArtnet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kidner, Michael Modern artists British abstract artists British conceptual artists People from Kettering 1917 births 2009 deaths Op art Royal Academicians Military personnel from Northamptonshire Canadian Army personnel of World War II Royal Canadian Corps of Signals soldiers People educated at Bedales School