Cecil King 1921 - 1986

King became interested hard-edge abstraction in the early 1960s and a 1967 meeting with Barnett Newman, the principal proponent of reductionist colour-field painting in the United States, was particularly inspirational. King's subsequent exploration of the effect of pure colour achieves its zenith in Intrusion 1972 and the angularity of the gradiated grey band reverberates off the background, heightening the immediacy of the red colour. It is fitting that Robert Ballagh reproduced the present work in his Cecil King Box (1974, Private Collection) as a homage to the artist.

A founder member of the Contemporary Irish Arts Society and the ROSC committee, King played a crucial role in the development and encouragement of contemporary art and artists in Ireland during the 60s and 70s. He was the subject of a major restrospective at the Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane in 1981 and his work is represented in all major Irish public collections as well as those of The Museum of Modern Art, New York and The Tate Gallery, London.