Pendulum

Artist Cecil King (1921 - 1986)

Date1985

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions183 x 122 cm

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated by A.W.D. King in memory of his brother, Cecil King, 1987. © The Estate of Cecil King.

Object number1713

DescriptionCecil King first began to paint in 1954 when he was in his early thirties. His early works were semi-abstract paintings of Ringsend and the Dublin Quays and he also produced a number of still life and religious pictures. In the early 1960s, he became preoccupied with an abstract idiom and a meeting in 1967 with Barnett Newman, the acknowledged pioneer of colour field and hard edge painting in America proved inspirational. The spatial experience of colour became an important element in King's future work. However, despite this move from representational imagery, he took reality as a starting point.

From 1965-68 he was concerned with the tension and stress of the circus, in particular the trapeze act and a series of works on this subject followed. Pendulum, an elegant and restrained late work, is also part of a series. The black rectangular form, framed by a band of blue and fine yellow line, recedes away from the viewer. A single line tipped with white swings away creating a sense of tension between the compositional elements of the work. Despite the deceptive simplicity of his work, there is nothing austere about King's painting and a sense of warmth is achieved through his handling of colour and the use of subtle shading.

King was closely associated with the ROSC International exhibitions and a founder member of the Contemporary Irish Art Society.

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