Tsg henry kondracki

henry kondracki Three Cities

henry kondracki Three Cities 4 – 28 march 2015 www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/kondracki

Front cover: London Eye (detail), oil on canvas, 102 x 122 cms (cat. 35) Left: Macy’s, New York (detail), oil on canvas, 56 x 46 cms (cat. 38)

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Foreword In this exhibition I have tried to convey something of the essence of these cities and have focussed on the moments of calm and celebration instead of the stress and angst of city living.

Henry Kondracki January 2015 The world Henry Kondracki visualizes in his paintings is large and monumental, not only for his choice of subject, but for his ability to observe in the smallest or biggest canvas, drawing, gouache or watercolour, a fascination with humans, animals, buildings and landscape. His observations are often humorous, clever, tender, and always interesting.

Every medium Kondracki uses, and he uses them all, with a brilliant and sure technique, results in dazzling work.

The people, children and adults alike, are nearly always very busy, going about their daily lives, rushing home under umbrellas in the rain, or through the park in Edinburgh, the artist’s home city, in the snow. They go to the races, standing with their backs to you, excitedly watching the horses and their determined jockeys rush past. Children go to the park and feed the ducks, or stand in awe on long empty beaches looking at the blue sea.

In this exhibition, Three Cities, the Artist has excelled, painting panoramas of New York, London and Edinburgh, with extraordinary detail and atmosphere.

The view from the London Eye, in pouring rain, is superb, and very wet. Kondracki is a master of depicting rain and snow. In the view of the Empire State Building, and New York skyscrapers, he could not resist placing a small girl, viewing the scene through the telescope.

In the most down to earth painting, in the Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh, the vibrant green of the grass could almost, but fortunately doesn’t, hide the couple sitting on a rug in the corner of the garden. It is reminiscent of a scene in the film Blowout, and lends a certain ‘Je ne sais quoi’ to the picture.

From an early age Henry was thinking about being an artist, probably seeing and visualizing scenes and ideas in his mind, and the impression is that he has always loved using colour, both in landscapes, seascapes, the sky, and also in people’s clothes. His folk are always dressed in character, and in the right colours for them! The pink ice cream van, the different coloured umbrellas, the cars and buses, the boys hurling snowballs, the waiters, the ventriloquist, the bustling crowds, are all imbued with character and personality, and are painted with loving care.

This exhibition, Three Cities, is a tour de force for Henry Kondracki, and we, the viewer, are fortunate to have him in our midst.

Angela Flowers January 2015

Henry in his studio, January, 2015 3

edinburgh Edinburgh has many moods. The castle is a constant , like an actor trying to hold the limelight which in the past I have tried to resist, but in this exhibition have given it centre stage. The sanctuary of the Botanical gardens; a summer’s day with long shadows; a great view of Edinburgh; the buildings pile up, culminating in the castle.

1 Twilight, Hanover Street oil on canvas 100 x 70.5 cms 6

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2 The Mound oil on canvas 101.5 x 122 cms 8

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3 Cherry Blossom oil on canvas 24 x 18 cms 10

4 Burgh Loch oil on canvas 89 x 114 cms 11

5 High Summer, Botanical Gardens oil on canvas 127 x 140 cms 12

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6 The Vennel oil on canvas 152.5 x 132 cms 14

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7 Walk in the Snow, Meadows oil on canvas 19.5 x 51 cms 16

8 Study of the Vennel oil on canvas 35.5 x 45.5 cms 17

9 The Cowgate oil on canvas 89 x 114 cms 18

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10 Sledging oil on canvas 40.5 x 51 cms 20

11 Grassmarket oil on canvas 80.5 x 70.5 cms 21

12 Moonlight on the Bridges oil on canvas 101.5 x 122 cms 22

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13 Study for Castle Terrace oil on canvas 30.5 x 46 cms 24

14 Howe Street oil on canvas 25.5 x 20 cms 25

15 Castle Terrace oil on canvas 101.5 x 122 cms 26

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16 Blue Bobby oil on canvas 40.5 x 30.5 cms 28

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17 Pink Clouds, Princes Street oil on canvas 89 x 76 cms 30

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18 Calton Hill, Sunset oil on canvas 101.5 x 122 cms 32

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19 Blue Night, Arthur’s Seat oil on canvas 66 x 76 cms 34

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20 Funfair Music oil on canvas 45.5 x 61 cms 36

21 Cars at Night oil on canvas 30.5 x 25.5 cms 37

22 Varsity Music Shop oil on canvas 45.5 x 61 cms 38

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23 Greyfriars Bobby in the Snow oil on canvas 114 x 89 cms 40

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24 St Margaret’s Loch oil on canvas 51 x 61 cms 42

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25 Bus Stop, Pink Umbrella oil on canvas 30.5 x 30.5 cms 44

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26 Hanover Street in the Rain oil on canvas 66 x 51 cms 46

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london On the shores of the Thames you can find broken Victorian clay pipes and even shards of Roman pottery.When painting London and the Thames I think of all the poets and painters who have captured London’s life. Art is partly archaeology.

27 Cafe at the Tate Modern oil on canvas 25.5 x 35.5 cms 50

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28 Waterloo Bridge oil on canvas 51 x 61 cms 52

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29 The Thames oil on canvas 61 x 79 cms 54

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30 Bird’s Eye View of London oil on canvas 76 x 91.5 cms 56

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31 Toy London Bus oil on canvas 25.5 x 30.5 cms 58

32 Trafalgar Square oil on canvas 91.5 x 91.5 cms

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33 Tower Bridge, Yellow oil on canvas 25.5 x 25.5 cms 60

34 Houses of Parliament oil on canvas 61 x 76 cms 61

35 London Eye oil on canvas 102 x 122 cms 62

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36 Primrose Hill, Sledging oil on canvas 61 x 70.5 cms 64

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37 Tower Bridge oil on canvas 117 x 122 cms 66

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new york The Statue of Liberty; I think of all the hopes and dreams that this statue has inspired, now tourists point cameras and take away digital memories, pixellated pictures, like Seurat’s dots; now everyone is a pointillist. Brooklyn Bridge; a rain soaked day; the lights of the cars like diamonds coming towards you and rubies receding. Ordinary but extraordinary.

38 Macy’s, New York oil on canvas 56 x 46 cms 70

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39 On the way to Coney Island oil on canvas 132 x 152.5 cms 72

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40 The Top of the Rock oil on canvas 51 x 61 cms 74

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41 Manhattan Twilight oil on canvas 63.5 x 71 cms 76

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42 Midnight Coffee oil on canvas 35.5 x 45.5 cms 78

43 Brooklyn Bridge oil on canvas 35.5 x 45.5 cms 79

44 Autumn, Central Park oil on canvas 45.5 x 56 cms 80

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45 Statue of Liberty oil on canvas 85 x 61 cms 82

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henry kondracki 1953 Born in Edinburgh 1981-82 Byam Shaw School of Art, London 1982-86 Slade School of Fine Art, London; BA in Fine Art (First Class Honours) Solo exhibitions 1979 Traverse Theatre Club, Edinburgh 1984 The Artists’ Collective Gallery, Edinburgh 1987 Vanessa Devereux Gallery, London 1988 Michael Wardell Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 1989 Vanessa Devereux Gallery, London 1991 Easter Road, William Jackson Gallery, London 1992 The Artists’ Collective Gallery, Edinburgh 1994 William Jackson Gallery, London

Gallery M, London 1995 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 1996 Flowers East at London Fields, London 1997 Bellevue Gallery, Edinburgh 1998 Flowers Graphics, London

Flowers East, London 2000 Kondracki's Edinburgh, Flowers West, Santa Monica, California 2001 Flowers East, London 2003 Flowers Central, London 2004 Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh 2007 Flowers, New York 2008 Lemon Street Gallery, Truro 2008 Michael Richardson Art Space 2009 Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh 2010 Paintings, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 2012 Works on Paper, The Scottish Gallery Edinburgh 2015 Three Cities, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

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Selected Group exhibitions 1979 Gladstone Court, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh 1983, 85 Whitworth Young Contemporaries, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester 1984 Society of Scottish Artists 90th Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh 1986 John Moores Exhibition, The Walker Gallery, Liverpool

Cityscape: The Changing Face of London, Arthur Anderson & Co, London 1987 Nice Art Fair, France

The Big Fight, Vanessa Devereux Gallery, London

Southbank Picture Show, Royal Festival Hall, London 1988 Riverside Open, Riverside Studios, London Milburn & Arte, Sydney, Australia 1988 Society of Scottish Artists, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Festival Exhibition, Edinburgh Printmakers Workshop

A Personal Choice by Jeffery Camp, Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London

Off the Wall, Vanessa Devereux Gallery, London 1990, 93, 94, 00, 01, 06, 12

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London 1991 Director's Choice, The Scottish Gallery, London

Travel Fresh Horizons, William Jackson Gallery, London 1992-93 Figure in the City, Talbot Rice Gallery, touring exhibition; Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels

Henry sketching in Central Park, New York, Autumn 2014.

Photographs by Eddie Kondracki 85

1993

1994 1996 1998 2000 2005

Hope and Despair – English Figurative Art, Crane Gallery, London The Selected Line, William Jackson Gallery, London Polish Routes; British Soul, Edinburgh City Art touring show Witnesses & Dreamers, Oliver Bevan touring show A Scottish Renaissance, Contemporary Painting in Scotland, The Rotunda, Hong Kong New British Painting, Flowers West, Santa Monica, California 30th Anniversary Exhibition, Flowers, London and Santa Monica, California Hyman Kondracki Osuga, Flowers East, London Angela Flowers Gallery 35th Anniversary Exhibition, Flowers East, London

Awards 1978 Scottish Arts Council, Materials and Costs Award 1979 Scottish Arts Council, Minor Bursary 1983 The Sir William Coldstream Prize at the Slade Whitworth Young Contemporaries, a prize from the Granada Foundation, Manchester 1984 The Rodney Burn Prize at the Slade for best figurative work in the session 1983-84 1985 Slade Prize in Fine Art for the session 1984-85 1986 Slade Prize in Fine Art for the session 1985-86 1987 South Bank Board Prize 1991 Spectator/Adam & Co Art Prize – Travel Fresh Horizons

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1995 Prize winner, John Moores Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool 1997 Noble Grossart, Scotland on Sunday (third prize) 1999 Cheltenham Drawing Prize 2000 Hunting Group (regional prize) 2004 Hunting Art Prize (first prize)

Singer Friedlander (second prize) 2013 Open Eye Prize RSA

First Time Exhibitor ‘RGI’ Prize Collections

COLLECTIONS Arts Council of Great Britain BAS Investments UK British Council City Arts Centre, Edinburgh Glasgow City Museums and Galleries Granada Foundation, Manchester Guildhall, London Manchester City Art Gallery Royal Bank of Scotland Scottish Provident Standard Life University College London Virgin Atlantic Bibliography 1995 Street Life at Gallery M, James Hobbs 2005 The Hunting Art Prizes catalogue 2005 The Artist (February) 2007 The Sun, New York (March)

Henry in his studio in front of The Vennel, January 2015 87

Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition henry kondracki Three Cities 4-28 March 2015 Exhibition can be viewed online at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/kondracki ISBN: 978-1-910267-12-7 Acknowledgements Henry Kondracki and The Scottish Gallery would like to thank Angela Flowers for her insightful foreword.

Designed by www.kennethgray.co.uk Photography by Jed Gordon Printed by Barr Colour Printers All rights reserved. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in any form by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permission of the copyright holders and of the publishers.

16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ tel 0131 558 1200 email mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk www.scottish-gallery.co.uk

Right: Greyfriars Bobby in the Snow (detail), oil on canvas, 114 x 89 cms (cat. 23) 88

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