Colour Box III, 1973

Robyn Denny (1930–2014) was one of the leading figures in post-war British abstraction, celebrated for his bold, architectonic paintings and his role in transforming the direction of British art during the late 1950s and 1960s. Born in Abinger, Surrey, Denny emerged as part of a generation of young artists who rejected the dominance of landscape painting associated with the St Ives School, instead embracing the energy, scale and ambition of international modernism. Drawing inspiration from Abstract Expressionism, American cinema, urban architecture and contemporary popular culture, they helped propel British painting onto the international stage.