Page 35 - Studio International - February 1966

explore, to get inside the head. Virtually any visual experience can spark off the initial
When I used this last phrase he agreed on its appro- impulse—the haphazard juxtaposition of pieces of
priateness. The real break from painting occurred after metal in a scrap yard, or in one instance an old gate
he had attempted a series of Futurist heads. 'The more I post to which extraneous objects or shapes had been
examined the exterior quality of a head the less real it tied and nailed. He never makes preliminary drawings
seemed. One day, for instance, in a life-class I watched or maquettes. The starting point is always a shape.
a girl-model. When she opened her mouth I became And of fundamental importance is the maintenance and
aware of an internal world which, whilst invisible, was identity of the different shapes ; he does not aim to
more real than the outer one. The need to explore and organically change the elements in a sculpture in order
express the whole led me to sculpture. All my work is to establish one continual flow of form. 'The most
about the problem of what one sees and what one important thing is the separateness of the different
knows and the attempt to fuse the two'. elements, the way they affect each other but do not
By happy coincidence he met his future wife, after his transform each other. I think you will find that in the
return from Italy, at the time when he searched for a Whitechapel show* the unifying force will not only be
suitable means of three-dimensional construction. His the effect of different pieces on each other, but the
brother-in-law turned out to be an engineer and taught effect of elements in one work on elements in another'.
him how to weld. 'From the time I met him I literally In the last two years Kneale has fused the various
stopped painting'. elements in his work in an original and impressive
His earliest works show the influence of Robert Muller series of sculptures. They appear to have no relationship
and David Smith ; spiky plant forms, or flat armoured to either natural or human shapes. There is the heavy
figures. These, as yet, were studies or explorations of solemnity he admires in Wright of Derby, and a curious
welding and forging techniques. In 1963 a more linear brooding presence. One is not distracted by tidy pre-
composition replaced harmonious forms, closer to the conceived intellectual ideas, or pompous emotional or
aggressive surrealism of the paintings. The finest works philosophic statements. There is a monumental, almost
of this period are Pivot owned by the Leicester Educa- primitive inevitability about these forms ; yet the hand
tional Authority and Slatehook now at the L.C.C. of their maker is ever present. 'All my work, to me, has
housing estate at Fenwick Place, Stockwell. Both incor- been an exploration, to extend my ability to feel and
porate heavy pieces of slate bound by the metal. 'In to realize that feeling. They don't come out of any fixed
these I used a lump of slate in its original form as an idea of what sculpture ought to be about—just out of
element of mass or weight in a complex pattern. Later what is possible for me at a given time'. q
I found I could pose this sort of problem entirely in
Catalyst 1964
Welded steel metal'.
Height 6 ft 2 in. Width 4 ft Basically what he is interested in, or what helps him *Bryan Kneale—Paintings and Sculpture 1953-1965
Collection of Sir Duncan
to establish ideas, is the relationship between forms. Whitechapel Art Gallery 2nd February-5th March.
Oppenheim

Two 1965
Kitter/and 1965
Welded steel
Welded steel
Height 3 ft 4 in. Width 10 in. and
Height 2 ft 8 in. Diameter 3 ft 6 in.
Height 1 ft 2 in. Width 1 ft 3 in.