Description

Colour Television

Gouache
51 x 31 cm
Provenance: The family of A. E. Halliwell.

Little is known about the artist other than the fact that he studied under the celebrated artist A. E. Halliwell. Halliwell is known to have collected a number of his students’ paintings and the fact that this painting was in Halliwell’s collection demonstrates that Halliwell thought highly of it.

This painting is a striking example of mid-century modern graphic design. Set against a stark black background, it features a dynamic composition of concentric white curves radiating from a central point, intersected by three white lines extending to primary-coloured dots—green, blue, and yellow—symbolising the RGB spectrum fundamental to colour broadcasting. Its pops of colour, concentric design and minimalist type face are bold and overall leave a lasting impression.