Oil paint on board
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/alan-reynolds-1832" aria-label="More by Alan Reynolds" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Alan Reynolds</a>
Keeper Dark Copse II
Presented by R.D.S. May 1953
abstraction
adults
anxiety
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
figure
forest
from recognisable sources
landscape
landscape
natural phenomena
people
shadow
universal concepts
void
<p>In his descriptive landscapes of the early 1950s Reynolds aimed to reveal the essential vitality of the natural world. In this painting, the plants and trees are transformed into anthropomorphic presences. Standing among these dark and looming forms is the solitary figure of the keeper.</p><p>Reynolds’s careful balancing of the muted, earthy colours and his measured arrangement of forms create an eerie stillness that adds to mystery of this secret world.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint board
23 March 2001 – 9 June 2002
2002-06-09
23 March 2001 – 9 June 2002
2002-06-09
2001-03-23
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2001-03-23
1951: The Shape of a Year
Collection based display
16 December 2002 – 10 June 2004
2004-06-10
16 December 2002
2002-12-16
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2002-12-16
1950s Art and Mythology
Collection based display
Keeper of the Dark Copse II
support: 792 × 1067 mm
Presented by R.D.S. May 1953
<div class="pbodytext">
<span class="text0">In his descriptive <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscapes</span></a> of the early 1950s      Reynolds aimed to reveal the essential vitality of the natural world. In      this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a>, the plants and trees are transformed into anthropomorphic      presences. Standing among these dark and looming forms is the solitary      figure of the keeper. </span>
</div>
<div class="para9">
<span class="text0">
<br/> </span>
</div>
<div class="pbodytext">
<span class="text0">Reynolds’s careful balancing of the muted, earthy      colours and his measured arrangement of forms create an eerie stillness      that adds to mystery of this secret world. </span>
</div>

Display caption
2004-09-09T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N06149</b> KEEPER OF THE DARK COPSE II 1951–2</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inscr. on back ‘Keeper of the Dark Copse II’ and ‘Reynolds 51–52’ t.l.
<br/>Oil on hardboard, 30×42 (76×107).
<br/>Presented by R. D. S. May 1953.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> Purchased by R. D. S. May from the Redfern Gallery 2 January 1953.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Redfern Gallery, February–March 1953 (21, repr.).</p>
<p>This, and another <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> of the same theme, ‘Keeper of the Dark Copse I’, also shown at the Redfern Gallery Exhibition, 1953 (5), were completed in November 1952 (letter from the artist, 1 September 1956). The inscription on <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/reynolds-keeper-of-the-dark-copse-ii-n06149" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N06149</span></a> would seem to imply that the painting was begun in 1951.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-08T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction adults anxiety emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas figure forest from recognisable sources landscape landscape natural phenomena people shadow universal concepts void