Red, Black, Russet and Grey

Eric Newton wrote in the preface to the Redfern Gallery catalogue, 'He [Reynolds] began as a landscape painter, to whom the distant sky, the level meadows, the thistle or the ears of corn within reach of his hand were objects to be described with the precision of which only an analytical love of such objects is capable. And gradually, so it seemed to him, the love was in danger of imprisoning him, the analysis wasted on something too ephemeral to deserve it. Something - a kind of harmony, first cousin to mathematics - had to be added; and the addition had to eliminate the ephemeral ... The solution of a dilemma always involves sacrifice, and that, in its turn always involves a conviction that in every worthwhile sacrifice more will be gained than lost ... The vocabulary of Constable has finally become obsolete: that of Mondrian has partially taken its place' (see exhibition catalogue, Alan Reynolds Recent Paintings, London, Redfern Gallery, 1960, p. 4).