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Kenneth Rowntree Art

British, 1915-1997

Kenneth Rowntree was born in Scarborough on March 14, 1915, and educated in York where his father managed the local department store. Young Kenneth’s work was displayed there and his first major commission arose from an advertisement at the store. After studying at the Ruskin School of Drawing in Oxford, he went on to study at the Slade School. At the Slade School, he met Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden and then moved to north Essex to work with them as members of the group of Great Bardfield Artists. Between 1940–43, he was one of the teams of over 60 artists engaged by the War Artists’ Advisory Committee for the Recording Britain project, to record the face of England and Wales before wartime action or before development changed it forever. Rowntree’s keen sense of design and fascination with the quirky and the vernacular made him an ideal candidate to interpret our built heritage’s more unusual aspects. In 1951, he painted murals in the Lion and Unicorn Pavilion for the Festival of Britain and he decorated the route of the Queen’s Coronation procession. During a teaching job at the Ruskin School of Drawing in Oxford he was driven, perhaps by his experiences recording Britain, to record the decorated barges that belonged to the Oxford Colleges. These wooden Victorian ceremonial barges had belonged to the London livery companies but were acquired in their later life by the Colleges to be used as changing rooms and clubhouses for the College boat clubs. Partway through painting one of them, Rowntree thought his drawing was incorrect until he realized that it was the boat that was moving. It was in fact sinking. In 1959, he was appointed Professor of Fine Art at Newcastle University, which as British art schools went was one of the most progressive. The Master of Painting was the abstract constructionist Victor Pasmore, and his assistant the father of British pop art, Richard Hamilton. Also Master of Sculpture was John Robert Murray McCheyne. In this environment Rowntree became receptive to assemblage and constructivism and other modernist idioms, incorporating them into his own work. Kenneth Rowntree worked with the architect Ernő Goldfinger to produce colored glass panels in Goldfinger’s Alexander Fleming House in the Elephant and Castle. He died in Hexham on February 21, 1997.

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Artist: Kenneth Rowntree
Alphabet - Horizontal Modernist Monochrome Screenprint on Cotton
Alphabet - Horizontal Modernist Monochrome Screenprint on Cotton

Alphabet - Horizontal Modernist Monochrome Screenprint on Cotton

By Kenneth Rowntree

Located in Kingsclere, GB

Kenneth Rowntree British, 1915-1997 Alphabet, 1958 screenprint on cotton 45 x 113 cm 17 3/4 x 44 1/2 in Kenneth Rowntree was an oil and watercolour painter, mostly of landscape and ...

Category

Mid-20th Century Kenneth Rowntree Art

Materials

Screen

Kenneth Rowntree: 'Abstract Australian Landscape' watercolour Modern British Art
Kenneth Rowntree: 'Abstract Australian Landscape' watercolour Modern British Art

Kenneth Rowntree: 'Abstract Australian Landscape' watercolour Modern British Art

By Kenneth Rowntree

Located in London, GB

Kenneth Rowntree Abstract Australian Landscape Watercolour 27.5 x 33cm Signed (top left) and dated ‘Kenneth Rowntree ’85’ Provenance: Anderson & Garland Studio sale of Kenneth Rowntree lot 263 Tuesday 8 September 2009 For biographical details and other works by Rowntree click here. Rowntree visited Australia in 1984/85. In this painting he picks up various vignettes from the Australian landscape in six separate blocks. Two relate to the sky, with almost-unbroken blue skies stretching from horizon to horizon, three relate to desert areas, with a whole array of different textures, and one is a luscious green. In one of the desert scenes he has picked out two road signs, in typical Rowntree fashion, reducing them to their simplest form. In her essay Kenneth Rowntree: A Strange Simplicity (published in Kenneth Rowntree A Centenary Exhibition Published by Moore-Gwyn Fine Art and Liss Llewellyn Fine Art, on behalf of the artist’s estate, on the occasion of the centenary of Kenneth Rowntree’s birth) Alexandra Harris makes reference to this painting noting: "Later, in 1986, just when the young David Hockney was collaging the signs and road-markings of Route 138 in Pearblossom Highway, Rowntree was in Australia painting yellow diamond-shaped road-signs as bright icons in open country. Wherever he went, Rowntree captured both the unfamiliarity of places and their relationship to things he knew. Heading into the Australian outback, he painted a road-sign as he would paint a rail signal at Clare in Suffolk or nautical markers at Swansea." Hockney’s 1986 Pearblossom Highway may be seen in the Getty and it is worth noting that Rowntree was in fact painting the yellow sign in 1985, so a year before Hockney. Kenneth Rowntree (1915-1997) Rowntree was born in Scarborough and educated in York where his father managed the local department store. Young Kenneth’s work was displayed there and his first major commission arose from an advertisement at the store. After the Ruskin School of Drawing in Oxford he studied at the Slade School, meeting Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden and then moving to north Essex to work with them as members of the group of Great Bardfield Artists. Between 1940 and 1943 he was one of the team of over 60 artists engaged by the War Artists Advisory Committee for the ‘Recording Britain’ project, to record the face of England and Wales before wartime action – or development – changed it for ever. Rowntree’s keen sense of design, and fascination with the quirky and the vernacular made him an ideal candidate to interpret our built heritage’s more unusual aspects. In 1951 he painted murals in the Lion and Unicorn pavilion for the Festival of Britain, he decorated the route of the Queen’s Coronation procession (some of the works being acquired by Her Majesty). During a teaching job at the Ruskin School of Drawing in Oxford he was driven, perhaps by his experiences recording Britain, to record the decorated barges that belonged to the Oxford Colleges. These wooden Victorian ceremonial barges had belonged to the London livery companies, but were acquired in their later life by the Colleges to be used as changing rooms and clubhouses for the College boat clubs – depending on the size of the barge rowing eights were stored on board too. Part way through painting one of them Rowntree thought his drawing incorrect until he realised that it was the boat that was moving. It was in fact sinking. These days the Colleges have modern (but unromantic) boat houses; a handful of the barges remain – restored – in private hands. In 1959 he was appointed Professor of Fine Art at King’s College, Newcastle (latterly part of the University), which as British art schools went was one of the most progressive. The Master of Painting was the abstract constructionist Victor Passmore...

Category

Late 20th Century Abstract Kenneth Rowntree Art

Materials

Watercolor

Chanson d'Automne (Autumn Song) by Kenneth Rowntree, 1984
Chanson d'Automne (Autumn Song) by Kenneth Rowntree, 1984

Chanson d'Automne (Autumn Song) by Kenneth Rowntree, 1984

By Kenneth Rowntree

Located in Kingsclere, GB

Chanson d'Automne (Autumn Song) by Kenneth Rowntree, 1984 Additional information: Medium: screenprint 67 x 49.5 cm 26 3/8 x 19 1/2 in signed and numbered in pencil Kenneth Rowntree...

Category

20th Century Kenneth Rowntree Art

Materials

Screen

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Kenneth Rowntree art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Kenneth Rowntree art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Kenneth Rowntree in paint, watercolor and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the abstract style. Not every interior allows for large Kenneth Rowntree art, so small editions measuring 13 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Margaret Francis, Anthony Benjamin, and Ben Hancocks. Kenneth Rowntree art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $5,479 and tops out at $5,479, while the average work can sell for $5,479.