DAVID TINDLE AT 90 | ‘STRANGE BEAUTIES’
In 1951, on the eve of his first art exhibition, in London, the 19-year-old painter David Tindle thumbed through the phone book, to help sprinkle some stardust onto the occasion. He discovered that one of his heroes – John Minton – was listed, and gave him a cold call.
David Tindle RA, Study for Two Blues, Jacket on Chair, c.2006, Tempera on paper, 29.7 x 21 cm. Copyright David Tindle RA, courtesy of The Redfern Gallery
Minton came along to the show, was impressed with what he saw, and introduced the lad to his artist circle, which included the likes of Francis Bacon, Keith Vaughan and John Craxton. It was the beginning of a remarkable career: Tindle, now 90 years old, is still painting, and the Redfern Gallery, which has represented him for 20 years, is giving him a seven-decade-spanning retrospective this autumn.
It wasn’t until the early 70s that the artist discovered the medium that suited him best: egg tempera, coloured pigments bound with egg yolk, fashionable until the 1500s when oils took over. This allowed him, in his own words, ‘a crisper medium of form’ and his work achieved a distinctive style. His canvases were largely unpeopled, but pregnant with recent departure or imminent arrival: doors were left ajar, shirts draped on empty chairs, telephone receivers left off the hook. His understated palette, if anything, heightened the emotional impact of the work.
Sometimes there’s a hint of subtle symbolism. Is that a thermos flask, or a lighthouse? A plastic spoon and fork, or a crucifix? ‘Perhaps,’ says Tindle, ‘I see religion frozen in time, but ready to break out of ordinary objects’. Brian Sewell was a collector, recognising the artist’s gift for seeing ‘strange beauties in the commonplace’.
The exhibition, David Tindle RA at 90, opened on September 13th and runs until the 30th. Redfern are exhibiting work by artists such as Eileen Agar,Paul Feiler, William Gear, Adrian Heath, David Hockney, David Inshaw, George Kennethson, Margaret Mellis, Patrick Procktor, Keith Vaughan, Henry Moore and Cedric Morris at Stand 21 of British Art Fair.