# Peter Lowe (artist)

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.
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 |
| 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