Alan Reynolds was an artist whose career fell into two halves: the landscape and abstract painter of the 1950s and 1960s, and the constructive artist of his later 45 years. The quest for equilibrium has been at the centre of Reynold’s art since he emerged from the Royal College of Art in 1953. His work from that time, which earned him early recognition and success, was influenced by the landscape of his native Suffolk and the hop gardens and orchards of his adoptive Kent. Like many post war British artists, his painting was anchored in naturalism but becoming increasingly abstract. From 1968 onwards depiction was firmly set aside in favour of the ‘concrete’ image. For more than 45 years, Alan Reynolds worked entirely as a concrete artist, making tonal modular drawings and constructed white reliefs. He had growing success which led to international exhibitions including a retrospective at the Städtische Galerie im Schloss, Wolfsburg and the Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen in 1996. In 2003 Kettles Yard Gallery in Cambridge held a retrospective of his work and Michael Harrison (Director at Kettle’s Yard and long-standing friend of Alan Reynolds) who followed Reynolds’ career for many years, published an extensive monograph on his life’s work in 2011. Alan Reynolds’ works was – and continues to be – exhibited widely in the UK, Europe, the USA, Australia and beyond. He had numerous solo exhibitions and was included in a wide number of group and curated shows, particularly with other British artists of his generation.
Reynolds’ paintings are widely represented in public collections and museums in the UK and internationally including the Tate Gallery, Arts Council and V & A in London; Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh and City Art Gallery, Aberdeen in Scotland; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Biblioteque Nationale, Paris; Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Hirschhorn Museum, Washington DC; National Gallery of Canada, Ottowa; National Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.