Edgar Hubert (1906-1985) produced some of Britain’s most radical abstract paintings of the 1930s and was a contributing figure to the Objective abstraction movement of 1933-7. He exhibited regularly with Ben Nicholson, Francis Bacon, William Scott and Lucian Freud. An exceptionally shy man, he became a recluse and eventually slipped from the public eye. This, the first exhibition of Hubert’s work since the 1950s, celebrates the rediscovery of his work.

Hubert exhibited with the London Group from 1931 to 1947, and in important exhibitions at the Lefevre Gallery (1942), the Leicester galleries (1950), the Mayor Gallery (1948 and 1953) and the London Gallery. He had two one-man shows at the Mayor Gallery in 1946 and 1948 and also one at the Institute of Contemporary Art in 1958.

Hubert’s paintings are powerful abstracts, geometrical patterns over subtly coloured grounds and post-cubist figures in ambiguous spaces.

His paintings are in the permanent collections of Tate Britain and the Bristish Council. With the main body of his work being hidden since the 1950s, his descendants are keen to have his work seen by a new generation.

A catalogue, with an introduction by William Packer, was published to accompany the show. ISBN 0 905062 16 7

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Collection Artist(s)

Glossary

  • Abstraction

    To abstract means to remove, and in the art sense it means that artist has removed or withheld references to an object, landscape or figure to produce a simplified or schematic work. This method of creating art has led to many critical theories; some theorists considered this the purest form of art: art for art’s sake. Unconcerned as it is with materiality, abstraction is often considered as representing the spiritual.

  • Contemporary

    Existing or coming into being at the same period; of today or of the present. The term that designates art being made today.