Peter Lowe (artist)

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Peter Lowe
PeterLowe-2008.png
Lowe in 2008
Born (1938-06-17) 17 June 1938 (age 87)
Hackney, London
Education Goldsmiths‘ College of Art
Occupation(s)Artist, Teacher
Movement Constructivist, Systems
SpouseTessa Smith (1938-2007)
Children2

Peter Lowe (born 17 June 1938) is an English artist, born in Hackney, London. His work is systematic, constructivist and concrete. It is mainly exhibited and appreciated in Europe, where it is held in many national collections. [1]

Contents

Biography

Lowe was originally inspired by Turner, his paintings gaining him entry into Goldsmiths‘ College of Art at the age of 16, where he was a student from 1954-60. Lowe was influenced by the Constructionists Kenneth Martin and Mary Martin, among others. He developed a preference for simple geometric shapes, which feature in most of his works. His early works include collage and rotational movement, while his later works include drawings, reliefs, computer prints and outdoor installations. [2]

After graduating, Lowe worked as a teacher at the Leeds College of Art with Harry Thubron from 1962 to 1964. He also assisted Kenneth Martin at the Barry Summer School in Wales, before starting to lecture at Goldsmiths‘ College in 1965, retiring from teaching there in 2000. [3]

Spiral of 8 Integers Spiral of 8 Integers (1963).jpg
Spiral of 8 Integers

Lowe was one of the founding members of the Systems Group who exhibited in Helsinki at the Systeemi•System exhibition in 1969. [4] [5] Since 1974, he has been a member of Arbeitskreis. [6]

Art historian Alan Fowler discusses Peter Lowe's systems work in his 2006 PhD thesis "Constructive Art in Britain 1913 - 2005". [7] Lowe is also mentioned in Alastair Grieve's 2005 book "Constructed Abstract Art in England After the Second World War: A Neglected Avant-Garde". [8] An interview with the artist by Fowler is given in the 2008 Southampton City Art Gallery exhibition catalogue "A Rational Aesthetic". [9]

Peter Lowe married Tessa Smith (1938-2007) in 1960. They had two children and he lives in Tulse Hill, London. [10]

Selected Exhibitions

Solo

1974Gardner Centre, University of Sussex
Lucy Milton Gallery, London
1975Galleria Primo Peano, Rome (with Norman Dilworth)
1980Galeria Pavillion, Nowa Huta, Kraków
1981Galerie Jeanne Buytaert, Antwerp
1987Foranea, Vimercate, Monza, Italy
1990Arte Struktura, Volume and Void, Milan
1991Galerie Jeanne Buytaert, Antwerp
1994Clare Hall Gallery, Cambridge
1999Wellcome Institute of Neurology, London
2005The Walk Gallery, London
2016Waterhouse & Dodd, London

Group

1957Young Contemporaries, R.B.A. Galleries, London
1963Six English Painters, Drian Galleries, London
Drian Artists, Drian Galleries
The Geometric Environment, A.I.A. Gallery, London
Plus Minus Inventions (with Colin Jones), A.I.A. Gallery
Construction England, Arts Council
1964Then and Now, City Art Gallery, Leeds
1966Relief Constructions, I.C.A., London
Constructions, Axiom Gallery, London
1969Systeemi•Systems, Amos Anderson Taidemuseo, Helsinki [11]
1971Matrix, Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol
1972Systems, Whitechapel Gallery, London (and tour) [12]
1973Systems II, Polytechnic of Central London [13]
1974British Painting '74, Hayward Gallery, London
1976Plus Minus, IAFKG/Southampton Art Gallery/Polytechnic of Central London
1980Pier + Ocean: construction in the art of the seventies, Hayward Gallery, London [14]
1981Malcolm Hughes, Peter Lowe, Alan Reynolds, Galerie Renée Ziegler, Zürich
Konstrukcja w Procesie [Construction in Process], Budrem plant, Łodź, Poland [15]
1984Norman Dilworth, Peter Lowe, Kenneth Martin, Galerie Ornis, The Hague
1999Anthony Hill, Jeffrey Steele, Peter Lowe, Galeria Stara, Lublin, Poland
2000Hill, Lowe, Steele, Raczko, Winiarski, Stabinski, Kuchnia Galeria, Warsaw
200522 of the Future for the Future of Vukovar, Muzeum Sztuki, Łodź
2007Towards a Rational Aesthetic: Constructive Art in Post-war Britain, Osborne Samuel gallery, London
2008A Rational Aesthetic, Southampton City Art Gallery
2014The Social Bases of Abstract Art, Updown Gallery, Ramsgate
2017British Constructivism, Pallant House, Chichester, UK
2018British Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery, London
2021Rhythm and Geometry, UEA, Norwich

Works in Public Collections

References

  1. ↑ "Peter Lowe". Peter Lowe. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  2. ↑ "Peter Lowe". Peter Lowe. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  3. ↑ "Peter Lowe". Peter Lowe. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  4. ↑ Fowler, Alan (2006), Constructivist Art in Britain 1913-2005, Winchester School of Art
  5. ↑ Chilvers, Ian; Glaves-Smith, John (2009), Oxford Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art, Oxford University Press
  6. ↑ internationaler arbeitskreis für konstruktive gestaltung
  7. ↑ Fowler, Alan (2006), Constructivist Art in Britain 1913-2005, Winchester School of Art
  8. ↑ Grieve, Alastair (2005), Constructed Abstract Art in England After the Second World War: A Neglected Avant-Garde, Yale University Press, ISBN   978-0-300-10703-6
  9. ↑ Fowler, Alan (2008), A Rational Aesthetic, Southampton City Art Gallery
  10. ↑ "Peter Lowe". Peter Lowe. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  11. ↑ "Systeemi.Systems". Internet Archive. Amos Anderson Taidemuseo. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  12. ↑ "SYSTEMS". Internet Archive. Arts Council of Great Britain. 8 March 1972 – 1 July 1973. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  13. ↑ "SYSTEMS II". Internet Archive. Polytechnic of Central London, 1973.
  14. ↑ "PIER+OCEAN". Arts & Culture. 8 May – 22 June 1980. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  15. ↑ "Konstrukcja w Procesie". Internet Archive. Thousand Secretaries Press. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
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