Three Muses, 1968
Framed (ref: 5204)
Signed and dated 'Reinganum, '68'
Oil on board
12 x 23 1/2 in. (30.5 x 59.7 cm)
Signed and dated 'Reinganum, '68'
Oil on board
12 x 23 1/2 in. (30.5 x 59.7 cm)
Provenance: Private Collection
In a brown shadow box frame.
Reinganum attended the
Academie Julian in Paris and was one of Leger's six private students in
his studio in Montmartre. On his return to London in 1926, Reinganum
took his portfolio to Maurice Gorham, the art editor of the Radio Times,
who bought one of his drawings on the spot and started Reinganum on his
freelance career as illustrator. During the 1930s and 1940s, together
with Eric Fraser, Reinganum became responsible for the style of the
Radio Times. His association with the Radio Times was to continue for 40
years. The discipline that this work demanded, the speed and accuracy
with which he had to absorb information and interpret it, informed his
painting and graphic design.
In 1926, with Nicolas Bentley,
Reinganum formed the Pandemonium Group, a loosely knit group of "bright
young things" that held regular exhibitions at the Beaux Arts Gallery,
where they began their tentative experiments with abstraction.
Reinganum
disliked categories, both of medium and style, and did his best to
avoid them. His paintings were exhibited under the banner "abstraction"
but, gradually, the world at large dubbed him a Surrealist and he was
swept up in the wave of British Surrealism exhibitions in the 1970s. His
paintings have been shown in 20 exhibitions with "Surrealism" in their
title, together with other members associated with the movement that
included: Edward Burra, Eileen Agar, Merlyn Evans, Conroy Maddox,
Tristram Hillier, John Piper and Roland Penrose.
