Alexander Mackenzie (9 April 1923 – 18 September 2002) was a British abstract artist, an active member of the Penwith Art Society and Newlyn Art Gallery and educator.
Personal life Mackenzie was born on 9 April 1923 in Liverpool. He was married to Coralie Crockett and the couple had three daughters, Pat, Althea and Rachel.He died in Penzance on 18 September 2002.
He had a brother named Paul Mackenzie who had three daughters Alison, Alexandra and Elli Mackenzie.
Career
At the beginning of the World War II, Mackenzie's school was evacuated to Newburgh Priory, which was part of his introduction to art – he later described it as "a marvellous place, filled with tapestries and paintings".
As soon as he was old enough, he enlisted in the army, serving for 5 years in the armoured Inns of Court Regiment. He fought in the European theatre of war, including commanding an armoured car up the beaches on D-Day.Austin-Desmond exhibition catalogue, 2007 Following his demobilisation in 1945, he studied at Liverpool College of Art. He graduated in 1950, and the following year he moved to Cornwall, where he soon established close relationships with many artists, including Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth. He was based in Cornwall for the rest of his life.
For several years he taught art at Leskudjack school in Penzance before becoming a senior lecturer at Plymouth College of Art and Design in 1964. He spent the next 20 years at the college as Head of the Department of Fine Art.
His auction record is £27,500, set for Gwithian at Christie's, London, on 27 May 2010.Alexander Mackenzie in Christie's auction catalogue 20th Century British and Irish Art, May 2010
Collections
His Drawing, June 1963 is in the Tate collection. Two works are in the Arts Council collection.
Mackenzie's art work can be seen at The Suter Art Gallery, Nelson, New Zealand, Brasenose College, University of Oxford, Bradford City Art Gallery, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation collection, the Contemporary Art Society collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, the Nuffield Foundation collection, Plymouth City Art Gallery,Bonehill, Dartmore in Plymouth City Art Gallery Salford Museum & Art Gallery and York Art Gallery.
Exhibitions
Mackenzie exhibited widely throughout his life and posthumously, and was included in the following significant exhibitions:
Solo exhibitions
1959, 1961, 1963: Waddington Galleries, London 1960, 1962: Durlachers Gallery, New York 1965: Paintings by Alexander Mackenzie, Plymouth City Art Gallery 1965, 1968, 1970: Maltzahn Gallery, London 1977: Retrospective Exhibition Paintings and Drawing by Alexander Mackenzie, the Truro Gallery 1980: Newlyn Orion Gallery, Newlyn 1982: Festival Gallery, Bath 1999: Austin/Desmond Fine Art, London 2007: Austin/Desmond Fine Art Austin Desmond exhibition
Selected group exhibitions
1952: Penwith Society of Arts, St Ives (and then annually) 1955: Daily Express Young Artists Exhibition, London 1959: Whitechapel Art Gallery Graven Image 1959: Arte Grafica Britanico, Bogotá, Colombia 1960: Bradford City Art Gallery, Contemporary British Art 1960: Brooklyn Museum, 21st International Water Colour Biennal, New York, 1961: Arts Council Exhibition, New Painting 58-61 1962–63: Premio Marzotto E L’Arte, European Community Contemporary Painting Exhibition, Rome, Milan and London 1970: Plymouth City Art Gallery, Alexander Mackenzie and Bryan Wynter 1975: Plymouth City Art Gallery, Painting & Sculpture 1975 1977: New Art Centre, Cornwall 1944–55 1977: Kunst Aus Cornwall, Cuxhaven, Germany 1984: Newlyn/Orion, Second Nature, toured to the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London 1985: Tate Gallery, St Ives 1939–64 1985: Plymouth City Art Gallery, Landscape: Fact and Feeling 1986: Pallant House Gallery, Cornwall in the 80s 1987: Newlyn Art Gallery, Looking West, touring to the Royal College of Art, London 1992: Royal West of England Academy, Artists in Cornwall
Bibliography
Herbert Read & Roland Penrose: Premio Marzotto Award Catalogue, 1963 A. Cumming: Profile of Alexander Mackenzie, Arts Review, Vol XX No.20 Sir Herbert Read: Contemporary British Art, Penguin Publications, 1964 Dictionary of Twentieth Century Art, Phaidon Press, 1973 Tate Gallery, Catalogue of Acquisitions 1976-8 Arts Council Collection, 1979 Richard Mabey: Second Nature, Jonathon Cape, 1984 Tate Gallery, St Ives 1939–64, Tate Gallery Publications, 1985 Alan Windsor: Handbook of Modern British Painting 1900–1980, Scolar Press, 1992 Peter Davies: St Ives Revisited, Old Bakehouse Publications, 1994 Melissa Hardie: 100 Years in Newlyn/Diary of a Gallery, Pattten Press, 1995 David Archer: Alexander Mackenzie, Austin/Desmond Fine Art, 1999 Michael Bird: Alexander Mackenzie: In character, Austin/Desmond, 2007 Keith Chapman: 'Alexander Mackenzie - Paintings 1951 to 2001', Styca Publishing, 2023
References
External links
Exhibition catalogue from Austin/Desmond exhibition in 2009 Alexander Mackenzie in the Cornwall Artists' Index Alexander Mackenzie - Paintings 1951-2001 book 2023