Robyn Denny

Robyn Denny was born in 1930 in Surrey and belongs to a generation of British abstract artists who, having passed through London art schools in the 1950s, had by the turn of the decade made a decisive break with the pastoral abstraction of the preceding era. By the early 1960s, Denny arrived at what we might call his mature style after absorbing the practical example of recent American abstract painting. Denny explored a range of solutions to his theoretical interests in contemporary notions of social interactivity and the nature of language, symbol, and image in art. From this point onwards, pared down abstract compositions were to form the bulk of Denny's production. In 1966, Denny was selected - alongside Anthony Caro, Richard Smith, and Bernard and Harold Cohen - to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale and by 1973 became the youngest artist ever to be given a retrospective by the Tate.

The artist died on 20 May 2014.

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Denny, Hoyland, Smith, Vaux: On Paper

2 February - 5 March 2022

Bernard Jacobson Gallery presents Denny, Hoyland, Smith, Vaux: On Paper, an exhibition of works by Modern British icons Robyn Denny, John Hoyland, Richard Smith and Marc Vaux. Departing from the 1960s, a time when artists sought to shun the confines of British semi-abstract painterly tradition of London and the St. Ives School, the exhibition explores the dialogue between each of these four artists’ distinctive use of the medium as they champion new advances in abstract painting.

Prints I published

12 February - 9 March 2019

In 1969 Bernard Jacobson began his career as an art dealer, selling and publishing prints by important contemporary artists from a small fourth-floor gallery in London’s Mayfair. For a gallery founded on printmaking and which continues to stage major print shows by artists including Matisse and Motherwell, what better way could there be to celebrate this half century than a two-part exhibition devoted to printmaking?

Prints I wish I had published

11 January - 9 February 2019

In 1969 Bernard Jacobson opened his first London gallery – a fourth-floor walk-up on Mount Street, Mayfair, dealing in prints by international stars, including Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg, as well as publishing prints by leading British artists including Malcolm Morley and Robyn Denny. Printmaking fit the radical, pop sensibility of the time, and Jacobson was part of that heady explosion of interest in the medium. As the gallery approaches its half century in 2019, it is fitting that this landmark year opens with an ambitious two-part exhibition exploring Jacobson's personal and abiding love of prints and some of the remarkable works published by the gallery during an eventful 50 years in the business.

Robyn Denny: Works on Paper

11 October - 16 November 2019

Bernard Jacobson Gallery is delighted to present an exhibition of works on paper by the celebrated British artist Robyn Denny, one of the most original and significant painters of the post-war era and the youngest ever to be given a retrospective at the Tate, which took place in 1973.

Caro, Denny, Smith, Vaux

2 February - 4 March 2017

Bernard Jacobson Gallery is delighted to present its upcoming exhibition Caro, Denny, Smith, Vaux, including works by gallery artists Anthony Caro, Robyn Denny, Richard Smith, and Marc Vaux. The show will include paintings and sculptures from the 1960s and 1970s, as well as from more recent years.

Robyn Denny: Paintings from the '60s

19 December 2007 - 20 January 2008

Dating from the 1960s, Robyn Denny's paintings on display at Bernard Jacobson Gallery belong to one of the most accomplished periods of the artist's career to date. The works continue to resonate with power and intensity, which conforms to Denny's desire that 'no painting should reveal all it has to say as a kind of instant impact.