Untitled MICHAEL CANNEY (British, 1923-1999)
10845
MICHAEL CANNEY (British, 1923-1999)
Untitled
Signed with initials 'MC' (lower left)
Oil on canvas
Circa 1955
Canvas Height 46 cm., 18in., Length 36 cm. 14 in.
In a polished pearwood frame
Frame Height 61 cm., 2ft., Length 51 cm., 20 in.
'Michael Canney was one of the most versatile and intelligent voices on the West Country art scene. He trod the ground of the rival colonies of St Ives and Newlyn and could measure his efforts against some of the best abstract art of the period - Lanyon, Hilton, Frost. (Peter Davies,The Independent, 6 January, 2000).
Canney was inculcated into the West Country modern art movement, his friendships and associations with the leading artists of the 20th century, and some of the greatest creative minds of twentieth century art, significantly influenced his work. His early involvement with the frontal planar structures of Cubism and its concern with the manipulation of shallow space resulted in a series of works in the 1950'. 'One really did feel that one was at the forward edge of art in Britain, and that this was a moment that would never be repeated.'… 'I became an obsessional Neo-Cubist, because at that time, in the late 1940s, Abstract Expressionism had not yet crossed the Atlantic, and Cubism seemed as good a place as any for a young painter to start from'. 'Untitled' is a major work from this period. By using a figurative base and focusing on line and fragmentation, and using colour in a purely abstract sense Canney has created a powerful geometric structure.
20th Century
1923
British
Commemorative
UntitledSigned with initials 'MC' (lower left)Oil on canvasCirca 1955Canvas Height 46 cm., 18in., Length 36 cm. 14 in.In a polished pearwood frameFrame Height 61 cm., 2ft., Length 51 cm., 20 in.'Michael Canney was one of the most versatile and intelligent voices on the West Country art scene. He trod the ground of the rival colonies of St Ives and Newlyn and could measure his efforts against some of the best abstract art of the period - Lanyon, Hilton, Frost. (Peter Davies,The Independent, 6 January, 2000). Canney was inculcated into the West Country modern art movement, his friendships and associations with the leading artists of the 20th century, and some of the greatest creative minds of twentieth century art, significantly influenced his work. His early involvement with the frontal planar structures of Cubism and its concern with the manipulation of shallow space resulted in a series of works in the 1950'. 'One really did feel that one was at the forward edge of art in Britain, and that this was a moment that would never be repeated.'… 'I became an obsessional Neo-Cubist, because at that time, in the late 1940s, Abstract Expressionism had not yet crossed the Atlantic, and Cubism seemed as good a place as any for a young painter to start from'. 'Untitled' is a major work from this period. By using a figurative base and focusing on line and fragmentation, and using colour in a purely abstract sense Canney has created a powerful geometric structure.){kind=link}