Dancers

Keith Cunningham

£100.00

Keith Cunningham’s art remained largely unseen by the public until 2016, when his widow and a small group of friends organised an intimate exhibition in Hackney, London. Since then, his reputation has grown steadily. As more of his extraordinary body of work comes to light, the world gains a fuller understanding of this understated yet remarkable artist.

By the 1980s, Cunningham had shifted away from his large, rough canvases, turning instead to creating thousands of vibrant hand-drawn pieces. Some of these works, bursting with colour, movement and life, depict female dancers in the throes of dynamic, frenzied performances. A carefully curated selection of these drawings has now been brought together in this publication.

Keith Cunningham: Dancers presents 327 full-scale colour reproductions of these exquisite, previously unseen artworks. Vividly rendering their intense colours and delicate lines, they showcase a variety of techniques, reflecting Cunningham’s diverse influences, ranging from graphic design to traditional drawing and abstract art. Organised into three thematic sections – Rhythm, Light and Form – the collection is accompanied by an introductory essay by the acclaimed art writer Gabrielle Schwarz.

Publication:

July 2025

Illustrations:

327

Dimensions:

420 x 305 mm

Format:

Hardback

ISBN:

978-1-911736-01-1

No. of pages:

376

Keith Cunningham (1929–2014) was born in Sydney, Australia. He worked as a graphic designer before moving to London in 1949 where he studied at the Central School of Design (1949–51, now Central Saint Martins) and the Royal College of Art (1952–55). Cunningham continued to paint, but kept his work private, until the end of his life. At the time of his death, thousands of artworks were discovered at his studio. A selection of his oil paintings was presented in an exhibition at Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery in London, 2022.

Gabrielle Schwarz is a UK-based writer and editor specialising in art and culture. Her essays, reviews, interviews and other features have appeared in publications including Apollo, Artforum, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Telegraph and The World of Interiors.

Dr Laura Scalabrella Spada completed her PhD at University College London in the Department of History of Art in 2020. Her research focuses on early modern European art, with a particular emphasis on the body and its processes, boundaries and relations. She has published papers on the politics of corporeality and animation in early modern prints and currently works as an independent researcher.