Peter Lowe (born 17 June 1938) is an English artist, born in Hackney, London. His work is systematic, constructivist and concrete. It is mainly exhibited and appreciated in Europe, where it is held in many national collections.
Biography Lowe was originally inspired by Turner, his paintings gaining him entry into Goldsmiths‘ College of Art at the age of 16, where he was a student from 1954-60. Lowe was influenced by the Constructionists Kenneth Martin and Mary Martin, among others. He developed a preference for simple geometric shapes, which feature in most of his works. His early works include collage and rotational movement, while his later works include drawings, reliefs, computer prints and outdoor installations.
After graduating, Lowe worked as a teacher at the Leeds College of Art with Harry Thubron from 1962 to 1964. He also assisted Kenneth Martin at the Barry Summer School in Wales, before starting to lecture at Goldsmiths‘ College in 1965, retiring from teaching there in 2000.
Lowe was one of the founding members of the Systems Group who exhibited in Helsinki at the Systeemi•System exhibition in 1969.
Since 1974, he has been a member of Arbeitskreis. internationaler arbeitskreis für konstruktive gestaltung
Art historian Alan Fowler discusses Peter Lowe's systems work in his 2006 PhD thesis "Constructive Art in Britain 1913 - 2005". Lowe is also mentioned in Alastair Grieve's 2005 book "Constructed Abstract Art in England After the Second World War: A Neglected Avant-Garde". An interview with the artist by Fowler is given in the 2008 Southampton City Art Gallery exhibition catalogue "A Rational Aesthetic".
Peter Lowe married Tessa Smith (1938-2007) in 1960. They had two children and he lives in Tulse Hill, London.
Selected Exhibitions Solo 1974 Gardner Centre, University of Sussex Lucy Milton Gallery, London 1975 Galleria Primo Peano, Rome (with Norman Dilworth) 1980 Galeria Pavillion, Nowa Huta, Kraków 1981 Galerie Jeanne Buytaert, Antwerp 1987 Foranea, Vimercate, Monza, Italy 1990 Arte Struktura, Volume and Void, Milan 1991 Galerie Jeanne Buytaert, Antwerp 1994 Clare Hall Gallery, Cambridge 1999 Wellcome Institute of Neurology, London 2005 The Walk Gallery, London 2016 Waterhouse & Dodd, London
Group 1957 Young Contemporaries, R.B.A. Galleries, London 1963 Six English Painters, Drian Galleries, London Drian Artists, Drian Galleries The Geometric Environment, A.I.A. Gallery, London Plus Minus Inventions (with Colin Jones), A.I.A. Gallery Construction England, Arts Council 1964 Then and Now, City Art Gallery, Leeds 1966 Relief Constructions, I.C.A., London Constructions, Axiom Gallery, London 1967 Unit-Series-Progression, Arts Council (tour) 1968 Cinétisme-Spectacle-Environment, Maison de la Culture, Grenoble Constructions, Greenwich Theatre Gallery, London Constructions from the Arts Council Collection, Arts Council 1969 Systeemi•Systems, Amos Anderson Taidemuseo, Helsinki 1971 Matrix, Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol 1972 Systems, Whitechapel Gallery, London (and tour) 1973 Systems II, Polytechnic of Central London 1974 British Painting '74, Hayward Gallery, London 1976 Plus Minus, IAFKG/Southampton Art Gallery/Polytechnic of Central London 1980 Pier + Ocean: construction in the art of the seventies, Hayward Gallery, London 1981 Malcolm Hughes, Peter Lowe, Alan Reynolds, Galerie Renée Ziegler, Zürich Konstrukcja w Procesie [Construction in Process], Budrem plant, Łodź, Poland 1984 Norman Dilworth, Peter Lowe, Kenneth Martin, Galerie Ornis, The Hague 1999 Anthony Hill, Jeffrey Steele, Peter Lowe, Galeria Stara, Lublin, Poland 2000 Hill, Lowe, Steele, Raczko, Winiarski, Stabinski, Kuchnia Galeria, Warsaw 2005 22 of the Future for the Future of Vukovar, Muzeum Sztuki, Łodź 2007 Towards a Rational Aesthetic: Constructive Art in Post-war Britain, Osborne Samuel gallery, London 2008 A Rational Aesthetic, Southampton City Art Gallery 2014 The Social Bases of Abstract Art, Updown Gallery, Ramsgate 2017 British Constructivism, Pallant House, Chichester, UK 2018 British Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery, London 2021 Rhythm and Geometry, UEA, Norwich
Works in Public Collections Arts Council Collection London Victoria and Albert Museum London Musée de Grenoble Museo de Arte Moderno, Fundacion Soto, Cuidad BolÌvar, Venezuela University of East Anglia National Museum Warsaw Peter Stuyvesant Foundation Amsterdam Kemin Kaupunki Taidesmuseo, Kemi. Finland Stedelijk Museum, Schiedam Alvar Alto Foundation, Pino Torinesi, Turin Museum of Modern Art Zagreb Commanderie Sint Jan, Nijmegen Museum of Art, Chelm, Poland Tate Britain Southampton City Art Gallery Mondriaanhuis, Amersfoort. Holland Peter C. Ruppert Collection, Würzburg Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
References
Dictionnaire de la Peinture Anglaise et Americaine, Larousse 1991, Jonneke Jobse. De Stijl Continued. The Journal Structure (1958–1964) An Artists' Debate. 010 Publishers, Rotterdam 2005. Correspondences Modern Art and Universalism, Muzeum Sztuki 2012
External links Official website of Peter Lowe
Constructivist Art in Britain 1913-2005 by Alan Fowler (2006) Essay on Peter Lowe’s work by Alan Fowler (2016) "The Mathematics of Peter Lowe's 'Spiral' Works" by Edward Grabczewski (2009) Waterhouse and Dodd art brokers. London W1. Tate Gallery Collection The Cornelius Foundation Now, Then: A Panel Discussion On The Legacy Of Reductive Abstraction From The 1970's And Its Influence On British Artists Today (2015)