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((short description|British artist))
((Use dmy dates|date=April 2022))
((refimprove|date=December 2023))
((Infobox artist
| name          = Michael James Kidner
| image         = Photograph of Michael kidner at the Trevor Bell exhibition 1962.jpg
| image_size    = 150px
| alt           = 
| caption       = Michael Kidner in 1962
| birth_name    = 
| birth_date    = ((birth date|1917|09|11|df=yes))
| birth_place   = 
| death_date    = ((death date and age|2009|11|29|1917|09|11|df=yes))
| death_place   = 
| nationality   = 
| spouse        = Marion Frederick
| field         = Painting, printing, sculpture, drawing
| training      = [[University of Cambridge]], [[Goldsmiths University]]
| movement      = [[Op art]], [[systems art]], [[Constructivism (art)|Constructivism]]
| works         = 
| patrons       = 
| influenced by = 
| influenced    = 
| awards        = 
| elected       = 
| website       = 
| bgcolour      = 
))
'''Michael James Kidner''' ((Post-nominals|post-noms=[[List of Royal Academicians|RA]])) (11 September 1917 &ndash; 2009) was a British [[op art]]ist. Active from mid-1960s, Kidner was an early exponent of the genre. Through his interest in mathematics, he was part of the [[Constructivism (art)|Constructivism]] movement and [[chaos theory|chaos]] and [[wave theory|wave theories]] influence his work.

== Early life ==
Kidner was born in Kettering, the son of an industrialist and was one of six children. He was educated at [[Bedales School]], and from 1939 read History and Anthropology at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] before studying Landscape Architecture at [[Ohio State University]]. He was staying with his older sister and her American husband in the US when war broke out in Europe. Unable to return home, he joined the [[Canadian army]] for five years. He was subsequently posted to England and after [[D-Day]] saw active service in France in the [[Royal Canadian Corps of Signals]].

After demobilisation in 1946, he enrolled at [[Goldsmiths University]] to study for a [[National Diploma (United Kingdom)|National Diploma]] in Art and Design but withdrew after three months. From 1947–50, Kidner taught at [[Pitlochry Prep School]] in Perthshire and it was here that he started to paint as a hobby. In 1949 he met and married his wife Marion Frederick, an American actress. From 1951 to 1952 he worked as a theatre designer in [[Bromley]] and [[Barnstaple]] whilst continuing to paint.

== Career ==
=== Early career ===
During a painting holiday in the south of France, Kidner met [[André Lhote]] who introduced him to [[Cubism]] and encouraged him to move to Paris and become a full-time painter. He travelled to Paris in 1953 where he sporadically attended Lhote's [[atelier]]. After two years he returned to North Devon where his brother was working as a [[General practitioner|GP]]. He moved to [[St Ives, Cornwall|St Ives]] for several months where he became acquainted with [[Trevor Bell (artist)|Trevor Bell]], [[Roger Hilton]], [[Terry Frost]], [[Patrick Heron]], and [[Peter Lanyon]].

On moving to London in 1957, Kidner was introduced to the New American Painting exhibition at the [[Tate Gallery]] where he saw the [[Abstract Expressionism]] of [[Jackson Pollock]] and [[Willem de Kooning]]. Kidner later became influenced by [[Mark Rothko]]'s [[colour field]] paintings. These inspired his ''After Image'' paintings, sculptures and reliefs, executed between 1957 and 1962.  Kidner attended a 1959 course run by [[Victor Pasmore]] and [[Harry Thubron]] which alerted him to the [[Bauhaus]] derived ideas of colour and led him towards a more objective use of colour.

Kidner's first solo exhibition was held at [[St Hilda's College, Oxford]] in 1959 where he showed his ''After Image'' paintings. In 1965 his work was featured in the [[op art]] exhibition ''The Responsive Eye'' at the [[Museum of Modern Art]] in New York, along with that of [[Bridget Riley]].

=== Mature career ===
==== ''After Image'' (1959) ====
Kidner said that "[[optics]] presents a challenge that was once offered by [[perspective (visual)|perspective]]".<ref name="SandlerIrving">Sandler Irving. ''Michael Kidner'' "No Goals In Quicksand, " Exhibition Catalogue (Flowers East 2007),</ref>
He was referring to the examination of visual perception in the science of linear perspective developed by [[Leon Battista Alberti]] and other [[Renaissance]] artists in the 15th century.<ref>Leon Battista Alberti, BookOne in ''On Painting''. Translated by John Specer. Yale University Press, 1966.</ref>
Kidner was also interested in the work of [[Seurat]] and the [[Neo Impressionists]] who had investigated the connection between the [[retina]] and the brain regarding colour perception, as seen in their [[Pointillist]] paintings.<ref>Felix Feneon, "Neo Impressionsim: Painting Expression and Colour" in Charles Harrison and Paul Woods (eds): ''Art in Theory 1900–1990, An Anthology of Ideas''. (Oxford Blackwell 1988) pp. 966–969</ref> Rothko's colour field abstractions led Kidner to see colour as "pure sensation".<ref>Sandler Irving ''Flowers Gallery East Exhibition'' Catalogue 2007</ref>

Later, Kidner's ''After Image'' works became hard-edged with flat uniform patterns, when he realised that optical activity producing shimmer is decreased by brushy paintwork and varied shapes.

==== ''Stripe'' (1961) ====
''After Image'' became too limited for Kidner. He found that he wanted to approach colour in a more rational way, and began a series of striped paintings using two alternating colours.

==== ''Moire'' (1963) ====
By 1963, Kidner felt two colours was limiting, and an article on the [[Moiré pattern|Moiré effect]] in ''[[Scientific American]]'' showed him how he could introduce a third colour. The effect was first discovered in Japanese silks, when the material was folded, optical patterns and colours floated above the actual patterns and colour of the material. This method produced a dramatic effect when Kidner crossed two colour bands with a third at a slight angle, resulting in a completely new pattern, with a wave-like vertical image coming into view.<ref name="SandlerIrving_a">Sandler Irving, 'Michael Kidner. ''At Tension to the Wave, '' Exhibition Catalogue (Centre for International Arts, New York, 1990)</ref>

==== ''Wave'' (1969) and ''Columnns'' (1971) ====
The appearance of the wave captivated Kidner and wave theory became his obsession as he realised that a wave pattern produces many more possibilities than straight lines because waves can be put in or out of [[Phase (waves)|phase]]. As well as optical effects, he was interested in distinguishing [[Form (visual art)|form]] from colour. He applied three colours to four forms in rotation so that no form could be identified by a particular colour.<ref name="SandlerIrving_a" /> This can be seen in his print ''Sussex'' (1967).
[[File:Sussex 1967.jpg|thumbnail|right|''Sussex'' (1967)]]

In 1969, Kidner co–founded the Systems Group with [[Jeffrey Steele (artist)|Jeffrey Steele]] and others. Around this time, the notion of colour as form urged Kidner on to do a columnar sculpture of a wave. At this stage he became interested in [[number theory]] as the key to "the nature of order" and "the structure of reality",<ref name="SandlerIrving" /> and was influenced by the work of [[Richard Paul Lohse|Lohse]].<ref name="SandlerIrving" /> Kidner meticulously translated the column into a two-dimensional form as a painting by using a systematic method of measurements and colour-coding as seen in 1979's ''Column in Front of Its Own Image II''.
[[File:Column in front of its own image II 1971.jpg|thumbnail|left|''Column in Front of Its Own Image II'' (1971)]]

==== ''Grids and Lattices'' (1973) and ''Stretched Elastic'' (1987) ====
At this stage Kidner began to be interested in the spaces between the lines and crisscross wavy lines began to emerge in his work, culminating in grids and lattices. These were sometimes in phase creating identical spaces in between and then sometimes out of phase so the spaces in between did not repeat. Kidner used this structure as a basis for creating many variations of this principle and stated that "the endless number of linear intersections both offer and resist any sort of visual resolution."<ref name="SandlerIrving" /> Continuing with his investigation of grids and lattices, Kidner experimented with various materials. He stretched and distorted elastic cloth on moveable wooden frames in geometrical shapes in order to arrive at unexpected shapes, thus introducing randomness, instability, and change into his art. He felt that constructive art needed to take into account disorder as well as order.

==== ''Pentagon'' (1999) ====
By 1999, chaos theory became a profound influence on Kidner's work and geometric abstraction in the form of [[Penrose pentagon]]s reprinted on paper became a critical tool as a metaphor for ordering the chaos in the world. This was Kidner's response to the many [[dystopian]] world events, such as [[global warming]], war, [[ethnic cleansing]], terrorism and intense [[nationalism]]. Kidner was intrigued by the fact that his pentagon patterns looked chaotic. His use of colour in these works was often random; colour formerly clarified the grid in his work, it now subverted it. He now invested more value in unplanned elements in his work. He wondered if there may be in chaos "some kind of order that perhaps we haven't yet recognised."<ref name="SandlerIrving" /><ref>Prof.Bann Stephen. Michael Kidner''Love is a Virus from Outer Space'' Exhibition Catalogue (Flowers London, 2001).</ref>

In his last decade, Kidner's work became more colourful and free. Titles such as ''Entangled Hyacinth Bulbs'' (2007), ''Invasion of Iraq: Surprise Resistance'' (2007), and ''Particle Evolution: The End of the Tunnel at CERN'' (2008) indicate their subject matter. 

=== Later career ===
Kidner taught at numerous art schools, including the [[Bath Academy of Art]] (1962–82), the [[Slade School of Fine Art]] (1975–79), and the [[Chelsea College of Art]] (1981–85). In 1978 he was invited by [[Stass Paraskos]] to be an [[artist-in-residence]] at the [[Cyprus College of Art]] arts centre in [[Paphos]], Cyprus.<ref>Michael Paraskos, et al, ''Stass Paraskos'' (London: Orage Press, 2010)</ref>

Kidner's work was included in collections at [[Tate Britain]], the [[Royal Academy of Arts|Royal Academy]], and the [[British Arts Council]]. In 2004, he was elected as a senior [[Royal Academician]].

== Later life and death ==
Kidner was predeceased by his son in 1980 and his wife Marion in 2004. He suffered from progressive [[cerebella ataxia]] and had [[cancer]]. Until late 2009, he continued to work in his studio with the help and support of artist [[Adrian Richardson]]. Kidner's last show, ''Dreams of the World Order'', took place at the Royal Academy in September 2009. Kidner died two months later at the age of 92.<ref name="McNay 2009">((cite web |last1=McNay |first1=Michael |title=Michael Kidner obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/dec/13/michael-kidner-obituary |website=The Guardian |access-date=5 December 2023 |page=13 December 2009 |date=13 December 2009))</ref>

== Bibliography ==
;Exhibition catalogues
*''Love Is a Virus from Outer Space'' [Catalogue of the exhibition held at Flowers East 2003] London.
*''Michael Kidner: At-tension to the Wave'' [Catalogue of the exhibition held at Center for International Contemporary Arts, 1990] New York.
*''Micheal Kidner RA: Dreams of the World Order 1960s'' [Catalogue of the exhibition held at Flowers East 25 September – 9 December 2009] London.
*''Michael Kidner: No Goals in a Quicksand'' [Catalogue of the exhibition held at Flowers East 14 September – 13 October 2007] London.

== References ==
((reflist))

== External links ==
* ((Art UK bio))
*[http://www.michaelkidner.com/ michaelkidner.com]
*[http://www.flowersgallery.com/artists/119-works.../3799-michael-kidner/ Flowers gallery]((dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes ))
*[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/michael-kidner-pioneering-op-artist-inspired-by-mathematics-who-strove-to-eliminate-subjectivity-from-his-work-1841900.html Independent obiturary for Michael Kidner]
*[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/art-obituaries/6886325/Michael-Kidner.html Telegraph obituary for Michael Kidner]
*[http://www.sculpture.org.uk/MichaelKidner/biography/ sculpture.org.uk]((dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes ))
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304131516/http://www.whitfordfineart.com/artist/biography/559/michael_kidner_ra Whitfordfineart.com]
*[http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/michael-kidner-1405 Tate gallery archives]
*[http://www.artnet.com/artists/michael-kidner/ Artnet]

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[[Category:Modern artists]]
[[Category:British abstract artists]]
[[Category:British conceptual artists]]
[[Category:People from Kettering]]
[[Category:1917 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:Op art]]
[[Category:Royal Academicians]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Northamptonshire]]
[[Category:Canadian Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Canadian Corps of Signals soldiers]]

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