Overview

Keith Cunningham: Drawings, Volume I is the first of two publications dedicated to the graphic work of one of Britain’s most compelling yet overlooked artists. Focusing on drawings that depart from his early experiments of the 1950s, this volume brings together over 1,900 full-colour reproductions, most of which have never before been published or exhibited. In the 1950s and 1960s, while also working within the commercial art world, Cunningham immersed himself in an intensely personal drawing practice. These early works – characterised by their immediacy, variation and emotional intensity – reflect a restless, searching imagination. Shifting fluidly between abstraction and figuration, they reveal Cunningham’s deep engagement with texture, gesture and the expressive potential of line. Arranged chronologically and accompanied by details of date, size and medium, the drawings offer an intimate glimpse into the artist’s evolving visual language. This volume also includes a biography and an introductory text, providing historical context and critical insight.  Keith Cunningham: Drawings, Volume I is a foundational step toward acknowledging the full scope of this artist’s remarkable legacy.

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9781911736035

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Author Information

Keith Cunningham (1929–2014) was born in Sydney, Australia. He worked as a graphic designer before moving to London in 1949 where he studied at the Central School of Design (1949–51, now Central Saint Martins) and the Royal College of Art (1952–55). Cunningham continued to paint, but kept his work private, until the end of his life. At the time of his death, his paintings were discovered at his flat in Battersea and debuted in an exhibition at Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery in London, 2022.  Dr Laura Scalabrella Spada completed her PhD at University College London in the Department of History of Art in 2020. Her research focuses on early modern European art, with a particular emphasis on the body and its processes, boundaries and relations. She has published papers on politics of corporeality and animation in early modern prints and currently works as an independent researcher.

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