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Open: Tuesday–Sunday, 11am–5pm

We are closed on Bank Holiday Mondays

Please note the house will be temporarily closed for 4 weeks from 14 March 2024

© The Estate of John Blackburn. Photo: Kettle's Yard

Relief

Lead relief, c.1963

John Blackburn
Lead and oil on cotton (mounted on wood)
200 x 210 mm
[JB 2]
On display

About the artist

Born 1932 – Died 2022

Read the full biography

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In the 1960s Jim Ede developed a taste for artists interested in balance of form and chromatic restraint, focusing in particular on the use of black and white. Among them were lesser known figures like Italo Valenti and John Blackburn. The latter’s relative obscurity at the time allowed Ede to buy more than forty works.

A close inspection of Blackburn’s work at Kettle’s Yard shows strengths that could not necessarily be found in single examples. There is the simple impact of black and white and the sudden intervention of other colours. There is also the variety and energy of the application of the paint: the use of impasto and thin veils, the dry crusty surfaces set against glutinous gloss. This is enhanced by the use of line (drawn with brush, pencil, biro or crayon), running over or cutting into the paint surface already established. This versatility in the use of materials is present in the majority of the works and shows Blackburn’s experimental process.

The linear interruptions in the works may have attracted Ede because of their echoes of Ben Nicholson’s prints and drawings of the same period. In this respect it is curious that the only Blackburn now on permanent display, Lead Relief, has one of the least modulated surfaces.