Background
KENNY, Michael was born on June 10, 1941 in Liverpool. Son of James and Ellen (née Gordon) Kenny.
KENNY, Michael was born on June 10, 1941 in Liverpool. Son of James and Ellen (née Gordon) Kenny.
Kenny completed many public commissions and exhibitions including retrospectives at Wilhelm-Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, 1984, Hansard Gallery in Southampton, 1990, and Dulwich Picture Gallery, 1994 following a residency there from 1992-1993.
in Oxford 1964, Southampton 1965, London 1966, 1969, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1984, in Manchester 1977, Liverpool, Birmingham, Portsmouth, Glasgow, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1981, Aberdeen, Brighton 1982, Tokyo 1983, 1985, Duisburg (retrospective), Paris, Harrogate 1984, Frankfurt 1985, Royal Academy 1986, Hong Kong, Galleria dell’ Naviglio, Milan 1987; has participated in numerous group exhibitions in England, Europe, America, Australia and Japan, including Royal Academy Summer Exhibition; public sculptures sited at Lumsden, Scotland, Parc de la Coumeuve, Paris, Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, England, Yokohama Business Park, Japan.Kenny went to Liverpool College of Art 1959-1961 and on to Slade School of Fine Art 1961-1964. He taught at Goldsmiths College 1966-1968 and the Slade 1981-1982 and was awarded Research Associate in 1986. He died on 28 December 1999.
He is buried in Highgate cemetery in London.
He continued his studies at the Slade School of Fine Art in 1961 under the supervision of sculptor Reginald Butler, who referred to young Kenny as "the Liverpool Italian" due to his fascination for the works of Giacometti and the vast plaster structures he was creating at the time. During the 1970s he lectured at Slade.
And he headed the department of Fine Arts at Goldsmiths College from 1983 to 1988. In 1995 he took the position of Principal of the London City and Guilds Art School.
In 1993, Kenny became artist-in-residence at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in south London.
His first one-man show was in 1964 at Oxford"s Bear Lane Gallery, and in 1978 he exhibited at Annely Juda. His work is widely. Collections are held at the British Museum, the Research Associate, The Tate Gallery, the V&A, the Arts Council of Great Britain, the British Council, Leeds City Art Gallery, Bath"s Quest Gallery and the Walker Art Gallery Liverpool. Michael Kenny has been exhibited across Europe, United States, Middle East and Asia.
And his work is increasingly sought after by collectors.
Indeed his work is particularly recognised in Japan following various exhibitions and installations. One of his sculptures remains on public display in Yokohama, Japan.
Throughout his life, his work addressed the isolation of the human condition, expressed often through the seated or reclining female figure, abstracted and depersonalised, touching landscape and geometry. Often incorporating devices such as plumb-lines evoking a science and accuracy within the emotive shapes.
Due to its location, probably Kenny"s widest viewed work is his 1992 sculpture – On Strange And Distant Islands – a 25 ft high lateral relief spanning 150 ft of wall above the Canary Wharf"s busy Limehouse tunnel entrance, carved from 70 tons of Kilkenny limestone.
His last great series of drawings – The Stations of The Cross – encapsulate the full range of his imagery and references and, according to Professor Brian Falconbridge at a major exhibition of Kenny"s work at the Quest Gallery in Bath, rank as on the of the finest examples of genuinely religious art within the Christian tradition made since the Reformation. Acquired by the Royal Academy in 1998, the 14 powerful mixed-media drawings represent a modern interpretation of a pilgrimage of the mind, in which the 14 moments of Christ’s Passion are captured in time.
Board of Governors, London Institute 1986.
Married 1st Rosemary Flood. Married 2nd Angela Smith in 1978.