LONDON.-Osborne Samuel Gallery has built a reputation for pioneering exhibitions of Modern British art. It is particularly keen to call attention to artists who may have been neglected in the recent past, and who demand a proper re-appraisal. This exhibition of post-war British Constructive art does just that.

In 2005 Osborne Samuel held the highly acclaimed exhibition Nine Abstract Artists – Revisited, which recreated as a group the work of a collection of artists who had originally exhibited together in the 1955 exhibition organised by Lawrence Alloway, an exhibition which highlighted the significance and progressive nature of British Abstract Art of the time. Now, in 2007, Towards a Rational Aesthetic: Constructive Art in Post-War Britain picks up where Nine Abstract Artists left off, including many of the artists who were in the original 1955 exhibition. It follows the development of British Abstract art from its Constructivist roots with Victor Pasmore’s Constructionist Group through to the later vanguard of artists who founded the Systems group alongside Jeffrey Steele and Malcolm Hughes. It also includes the subsequent branches of op-art and geometric abstract styles such as the group of artists from the West Country who also emerged at the same time in response to and as a result of the methods which underpin the Constructivist movement.

The gallery has assembled an exceptional collection of nearly sixty works from nineteen key artists of the period, spanning over fifty years of British Avant-garde art. It comprises paintings, sculpture, works on paper and reliefs. Many of these artists have received far more recognition in mainland Europe than in their home country. This exhibition provides for the first time an opportunity to examine these artists from within a broad Constructive context. We will reveal the breadth and astoundingly forward-thinking nature of their work and also raise the profile of the movement, and the artists themselves.

This exhibition follows on from the touring exhibition soon to arrive at Tate St Ives of works by Kenneth and Mary Martin, both of whom were key figures of Constructivism. This, and the forthcoming exhibition at Southampton Art Gallery in January 2008, curated by Alan Fowler, underline the resurgence of interest in this movement.