Geoffrey Key - Prodigal Son 1965

Description

Geoffrey Key – Prodigal Son 1965

ARTWORK INFORMATION

Cat No: 55
Title: Prodigal Son
Year: 1965
Medium: Oil on Board
Size: 48” x 36”

The Prodigal Son is one of the pieces
with which the exhibition challenges
the orthodox view of Geoffrey Key’s
art. This is an unusual early piece,
portraying a group of bulky figures
who are gathered in a group in a flat,
desert landscape. The colours are not
at all what we expect from an early
Key. The predominate colour is a vivid
orange which merges in to a lighter,
ochre sky. This work stands out
almost as an outlier, pointing the way
to later works both in the brilliance of
the hues but also in tone and in the
composition and heft of the figures. It
effectively makes the point that even
in his early years, it is a mistake to
attempt to bracket Geoffrey’s work.
The range and variety has always been
there.
The Prodigal Son featured in
Geoffrey’s first solo exhibition curated
by the Salford Art Gallery and
Museum, it had in fact been sold prior
to the exhibition in 1966 and up until
its recent discovery had remained,
below the radar, unseen. It is the
largest painting in the exhibition.