Provenance: Madeline Canney, studio ref 124

In a white shadow box frame with museum glass

Michael Canney was associated with the Newlyn and St. Ives schools, both as student and teacher, and in 1956 was appointed curator of the Newlyn Orion Gallery. His circle of friends included Scott, Nicholson, Vaughan, Hilton and Lanyon all of whom influenced him at various points in his career.  From the 1970's onwards he increasingly found his own distinctive voice, especially with his daring colour combinations.

'For a number of years now my work has been broadly related to the Constructivist tradition. However since 1979 it has relied upon a simple principle, in which the work constructs itself from itself ... The majority of the paintings and reliefs pay homage to the square, a format selected initially in the interests of its non-associative properties, its mathematical simplicity, and its formal neutrality. Division of the square format is by fifths, quarters, thirds, halves and so on, all of them proportions that are easily appreciated by the eye ... The imposition of these limits comes as a reaction against an earlier hedonistic period of improvisatory abstraction.' Michael Canney, Newlyn Art Gallery catalogue, 1983, pp. 4-7.