Robert Medley: a centenary tribute

In 1971 Bryan Robertson, the celebrated director of the Whitechapel Art Gallery, wrote that Robert Medley stood alongside Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Graham Sutherland, Francis Bacon and Edward Burra as ‘one of the most gifted and independent artists of an older generation’.

However, despite powerful supporters, in his lifetime Medley was diffident about fame and since his death a decade ago his work has tended to fall from view. This makes the present exhibition an opportune chance to reassess a major artist.

Marking the centenary of the birth of Robert Medley who would have been one hundred on 19th December 2005, Robert Medley: a centenary tribute is a rare opportunity to reassess a major figure. It provides a chance to view some of Medley’s most ambitious canvases, many of which have not been shown for years or even decades, having been retained by the Artist’s Estate.

Focusing on Medley’s major paintings of the late 1950s and 1960s, the exhibition presents some of the largest and most powerful paintings of his career. Paintings of an ambition that places them at the very summit of the artist’s achievements. Paintings that follow a distinctive path by building bridges between the abstract and the figurative, between public statement and private reverie. Paintings that, nonetheless, parallel the concurrent work of artists as varied as Roger Hilton, Graham Sutherland and Peter Lanyon.

What stands out is the sophistication of Medley’s touch. As John Berger writes, in a new essay, in the accompanying publication:

“What makes Medley’s work so rewarding and unusual is its dexterity. Dexterity in its strict sense refers to an inborn or acquired skill in dealing with, or being at home with, the tangible. Something close to the fingertips... Dexterity also implies panache, a quality of gesture. One can think of the cast of a master fly-fisherman. The stance of a prodigious violinist. The aim from the shoulder of a champion billiard player. Medley’s paintings have the concentration and elegance of such performances.”

NEW CATALOGUE Robert Medley: a centenary tribute with specially commissioned contributions by John Berger, Maggi Hambling, David Hockney, R.B.Kitaj, Andrew Lambirth and Norman Rosenthal.

The Estate of Robert Medley is represented by James Hyman Fine Art.

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Robert Medley: a centenary tribute