Antony Donaldson

In 1962, British Antony Donaldson developed the simplified treatment of the female figure that typified his work over the next half decade. Youthful, shapely and sexually confident, these women strike flirtatious poses and reveal themselves almost wantonly to the viewer’s gaze. Even when clothed in their bathing suits, or when showing us nothing more than their faces, it is the exposed surface of their perfect bodies that one first notices. Their facial features are depicted in a generalized way, to emphasise the fact that these are not portraits of particular individuals but fantasy images formed in the mind of a young man. Like David Hockney, Donaldson dreamt of a sun-drenched, laid-back southern California, relocating to Los Angeles from 1966-1968. The bold simplicity of his compositional schemes and the central role accorded to flat areas of saturated colour were confirmed by his American experience.

Born in London, England in 1939, Donaldson came to prominence in 1962 as part of the first wave of the young generation of British Pop painters. Graduating from the Slade School of Fine Art; his exact contemporaries included David Hockney, Allen Jones, Derek Boshier and Peter Phillips. In recent years, he has featured in numerous major historical overviews of British and international Pop Art, including The Pop ‘60s: Transatlantic Crossing at Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon, Pop Art UK at Galleria Civica di Modena, British Pop Art at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Bilbao, and When Britain went Pop at Christie’s in London, 2013.

Courtesy of Wallector Limited and the Mayor Gallery