Sky Studies, Volume I

Keith Cunningham

£74.99

Keith Cunningham: Sky Studies, Volume I is the first in a dedicated series exploring a lesser-known yet profoundly lyrical aspect of the artist’s output. Bringing together 1,488 full-colour reproductions, this volume focuses on Cunningham’s sustained visual inquiry into the sky as a subject. These works, presented here for the first time, span just under a decade and demonstrate the intensity of Cunningham’s studio practice.

Executed in a range of media including pastel, ink and watercolour, the studies reveal an artist deeply attuned to the emotional and atmospheric possibilities of light, colour and movement. Some are fleeting impressions; others verge on abstraction, conjuring vast atmospheric spaces or dense, brooding cloud formations.

Arranged chronologically and accompanied by an introductory text on the history and meanings of the sky as an artistic subject, the volume offers a significant contribution to Cunningham’s legacy.

Publication:

June 2025

Illustrations:

1488

Dimensions:

290 x 310 mm

Format:

Hardback

ISBN:

978-1-911736-02-8

No. of pages:

416

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.

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.