Black Brown Grey

Location

Country: Belgium
City: Brussels
Place: British Embassy, UK representation to the EU & UK delegation to NATO

This abstract geometrical print uses precise and deceptively simple intersections of line, shape and colour to strong effect. The narrow colour range – referred to in the title of Black Brown Grey – is enlivened by the effective contrast of the purple/silvery grey against the warmer terracotta brown of the background. It is predated by a similar work (see GAC L951) which employs comparable lines appended by diagonally placed rectangular outlines.

Born in London, Michael (Mike) Hale studied at Norwich School of Art (1952–56), and the Royal Academy Schools, London (1956–60). A pioneering, and largely overlooked, screenprinter, Hale worked as a master printing technician at Kelpra Studio, set up by wife Rose Kelly and husband Chris Prater in Kentish Town in 1957. He later taught at art schools and colleges including Bath Academy, Winchester School of Art, Strasbourg College of Art and was Head of the Printing Department at Leicester Polytechnic (today de Montfort University). Hale exhibited with Tom Phillips at the AIA Gallery in 1966 and was one of the artists included in the Arts Council exhibition, 'Eight English Printmakers' (1970).

Places

Subjects

abstract

Materials & Techniques

screenprint

Artist

Michael Hale (1934 - 2023)

Title

Black Brown Grey

Edition

A/P

Date

1968

Medium

Screenprint

Acquisition

Purchased from Editions Alecto, February 1972

Inscription

below image: A/P Black Brown Grey / Michael Hale '68

GAC number

L952