Systems Group

The Systems Group was a group of British artists working in the constructivist tradition. The group was formed after an inaugural Helsinki exhibition in 1969 entitled Systeemi•System. The exhibition coordinator Jeffrey Steele together with Malcolm Hughes, invited the participating artists to form a group in 1970. The Systems Group had no manifesto and no formal membership; it existed for the purpose of discussion and exhibition rather than direct collaboration.[1][2]

Some group members were influenced by Swiss Concrete artists, including Richard Paul Lohse; some by the Op art of the Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel. Others were influenced by the Constructionists: Victor Pasmore, Mary Martin, Kenneth Martin and Anthony Hill. "Above all, they shared a commitment to a non-figurative art that was not abstracted from the appearance of nature but constructed from within and built up of balanced relations of clear, geometric forms."[3]

The group disbanded in 1976 following political differences among its members. Despite this, individual members kept in touch and exhibited together for over four decades.[4]

  1. ^ Lynton, Norbert (1972). Systems. Arts Council 1972-3.
  2. ^ Fowler, Alan (2007), Towards a Rational Aesthetic: Constructive Art in Post-war Britain, Osborne Samuel Ltd, p. 9, ISBN 978-0-9549783-5-8
  3. ^ Grieve, Alastair (2005), Constructed Abstract Art in England After the Second World War: A Neglected Avant-Garde, Yale University Press, pp. 9, 54, ISBN 978-0-300-10703-6
  4. ^ Fowler, Alan (2008), A Rational Aesthetic: the Systems Group and associated artists, Southampton City Art Gallery, pp. 18, 19, 45, 188, 189, 194, 195, 196, ISBN 978-0-901723-1{{citation}}: CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link)