Steele

JEFFREY STEELE (1931-2021) was a British abstract painter who grew up in Cardiff, Wales. In Paris in 1959 he encountered the work of geometric abstractionists such as Victor Vasarely and Max Bill, and adopted a lifelong abstract approach. For eight years he worked purely in black and white and was identified with the Op-art movement. He has participated in more than 100 group exhibitions in Europe and the Americas and had 17 one-man shows and been featured in many groundbreaking shows, including the Responsive Eye, at MoMA and Dynamo, at the Grand Palais in Paris.
He lectured in fine art in Portsmouth, Hampshire, from 1968 to 1989. His work is kept in many major museums including: Tate Britain, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Buenos Aires; Walker Art Centre; National Museum of Wales, Cardiff; British Museum, London, etc.
Selected one – person exhibitions
1961 -Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
1963-Dillwyn Gallery, Swansea, Wales
1964 -Regional College of Art Gallery, Manchester -Grabowski Gallery, London
1966- McRoberts and Tunnard, London
1967-Sheffield University Art Gallery
1974 -Lucy Milton Gallery, London
1976-Le Disque Rouge, Brussels
1977-Galerie Gilles Gheerbrant, Montreal -Galerie Swart, Amsterdam
1978 – Galerie Swart, Amsterdam
1979 -Galerie Lydia Megert, Bern
1989 -Galleria Seno, Milan
1992 -Clare Hall, Cambridge
1998 -Musée des Beaux-Arts, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
2008 -Association Maison Blanche, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
Selected group exhibitions
1961 - Young Contemporaries , Artists’ International Association (AIA), London
Four Young Contemporaries , Paris Gallery, London
1962  Geometric Variations , Paris Gallery, London
The Geometric Environment , AIA, London
1963  John Moores Liverpool Exhibition , Walker Gallery, Liverpool  Twelve Artists , Qantas Gallery, London  Paintings of Sensibilit, Paris Gallery, London  Contemporary Art Society for Wales , National Museum, Cardiff
1964  Seven ‘64 , McRoberts & Tunnard, London  September International , Grosvenor Gallery, London
1965  The Responsive Eye , Museum of Modern Art, New York (and tour)  Summer Exhibition , Redfern Gallery, London
1966  Kinetic Art , Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry and Ulster Museum, Belfast  Ten ‘66 , McRoberts & Tunnard, London
1967  Pittsburgh International Exhibition , Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh
1968  Cybernetic Serendipity , Institute of Contemporary Arts, London  Grabowski 100 , Grabowski Gallery, London
1969  British Movements , Onnasch Gallery, Berlin  Systeemi , Amos Andersonin Taidemuseo, Helsinki
1972  Systems , Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (and tour)  Movement , Lucy Milton Gallery, London  System , Lucy Milton Gallery, London
1973  Systems II , Polytechnic of Central London  Engelse Systematische Kunst, Galerie Swart, Amsterdam
1975  Britanniasta ‘75 , Taidehalli, Helsinki  Dilworth, Kidner, Steele , Galerie Jacomo-Santiveri, Paris  Zeichningen , Galerie Lydia Megert, Bern  Kunstmesse , Düsseldorf  Kunstmesse , Basle
1976  Engelse en Nederlandse Rationele Tekeningen , De Volle Maan, Delft, Netherlands  System + Program , Galerie Teatru Studio, Warsaw,  Systèmes et Séries , Musée des Beaux-Arts, Besançon, France (and tour),  Art Génératif , Galerie Gilles Gheerbrant,
Montreal,  Kunstmesse , Basle  Parutions , Galerie Média, Neuchâtel, Switzerland  Systematici op Kleinformat , Multi Art Points,Amsterdam,  Rational Concepts, English Drawings, Kunstcentrum Badhuis, Gorinchem, Netherlands (and tour)
1977  Dilworth, Hughes, Lowe, Steele , Annely Juda Fine Art, London,  Sul Concetto di Serie , Museo Civico, Varese, Italy (and tour)
Rational Konzepte , Galerie Lydia Megert, Bern  Kunstmesse , Cologne
1978  Czwarty Wymiar w Czworobiku , Galerie Teatru Studio, Warsaw (and tour)  Constructive Context , Warehouse Gallery, London (and tour),  
Rational Practice , Gardner Centre Gallery, University of Sussex, UK  
Maximal-Minimal , Amos Anderson Museum, Taidemuseo, Helsinki (and tour)  
Dilworth, Lowe, Steele , Sally East Gallery, London  Kunstmesse , Basle
1979  Art Construit , Le Disque Rouge, Brussels  Kunstmesse , Basle
1980  8 plus 8 , Annely Juda Fine Art, London,  Portsmouth-Duisberg Link , Portsmouth City Art Gallery/Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisberg, West Germany
1983  L’Art Exact , Modernism Gallery, San Francisco  Arte Programmata e Cinetica 1953-1963 , Palazzo Reale, Milan  
XIV Mednarodni Graficni Bienal , Ljubljana, Slovenia
1984  VII Norske Internasjonale Grafikk Biennale , Fredrikstad, Norway  Constructivist Tendencies in Europe , Galerie Konstruktiv Tendens, Stockholm  
Nuevas Adquisiciones , Museo de Arte Moderno, Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela  
Male Jest Piekne , Galerie Zapiecek, Warsaw
1985  Colour Presentations , Gardner Centre Gallery, University of Sussex, UK (and tour)  
Formal Systems Instantiated as Finished Drawings , Exhibiting Space, London  Boundaries , Exhibiting Space, London  
Konkret Fünf , Kunsthaus, Nuremberg
1986  Arte e Scienza (Sezione Colore), Venice Biennale, Italy  
Systematic Constructive Drawings ; Wentworth Gallery, University of York, UK  
A Celebration of the Visual Arts in Portsmouth , Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth  Third International Contemporary Art Fair , Olympia, London  
On the Concept of Colour Presentations , Exhibiting Space, London
1987  Aspects of Programmed Art , Galerie Schoeller, Dusseldorf  
Inaugural Exhibition , Patricia Knight Gallery, London
1988  Exacta , Galerie im Stadthaus, Klagenfurt, Austria  
Black and White , Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Comune di Ferrara, Italy
1990  Britisch-Systematisch, Stiftung für Konstruktive und Konkrete Kunst, Zurich  Costruttivismo, Concretismo e Cinevisualismo Internazionale , Arte Struktura, Milan
1991  Collezione ABV , Salone del Mobile, Fiera di Milano, Italy  
Kolekcja Sztuki XXw  Galeria Zacheta, Warsaw
1992  La Collection du Mus e Lodz , Mus e d’Art Contemporain, Lyon, France
1993  Post-war Art , Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
1994  Drucke + Multiples , März Galerien, Mannheim, German  
Creating a Vision  , Russell-Cotes Collection, Bournemouth, UK
Kolor w Grafice , Muzeum Okregowe, Torun, Poland  
Svetovna Imena Konstruktivizmardquo, Galerija cd Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana,
Slovenia  
Dialogos  €” l’arte costruisce la’europa , Museo delle Collezioni, Bucharest
1995  Protagonistov Konstruktivne Umnetnosti , Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia  Words , Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
1996  Gli Anni Sessanta , Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta, Milan  
Lumière et Mouvement , Galerie Denise René , Paris  
Insights, Russell-Cotes Collection, Bournemouth, UK
1997  Abstract-Optical-Kinetic , Belgrave Gallery, London
1998  Okuninka ‘97 , Muzeum Okregowe w Chelmie, Poland
1999  Sztuka Konkretna/Abstrakcja , Goethe Institut, Krakow, Poland  
Creu Cymuned o Arlunwyr , National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, Wales  
12 Norsk Internasjonal Grafikk Triennale, Fredrikstad, Norway  
Anthony Hill, Jeffrey Steele, Peter Lowe , Galeria Stara, Lublin, Poland
2000  Hill, Lowe, Raczko, Steele, Sztabinski, Winiarski , Galeria Kuchnia, Warsaw  Miedzynarodowe Triennale Grafiki , Panstwowe Galeria Sztuki, Torun, Poland  
Grafica Opera Prima, Muzeum Okregowe w Torunin, Torun, Poland
2001  Amiche Volissimevolmente , Trevi Flash Art Museum, Rome
2002  Bianco e Nero , Vismara Arte, Milan   22 iz buducnosti za buducnost Vukovara, Muzej Suvremene Umjetnosti, Zagreb, Croatia (and tour)  
Grafica Opera Prima, Galeria Akademii Sztuk Pieknych, Lodz, Poland (and tour)  Kolekcja Sztuki Wspotczesnej, Museum Chelmskie w Chetmie, Barczynska, Poland
2003  Konstrucktive Kunst aus England , Stadtbucherei Niebüll, Niebüll, Germany  L’Arte del Movimento/dal Futurismo alla Videoarte, Casa del Mantegna, Mantova, Italy
2004  33 Protagonists of Avant-garde Movements , European Cultural Society Foundation, Bratislava, Slovakia  
Les Editions Média de Neuchatel, une Sélection , Musée des Beaux-Arts La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland  
Abstraction and Metaphor, Zamek w Janowiec nad Wis, Poland  
Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru , Newport, Wales
2005  Exacta. Dal Costruttivismo all’Arte Sistemica 1918-1985 , NT Art Gallery, Bologna  
40 grafica Opera Prima , Muzeum Milana Dobesa, Bratislava, Slovakia  
Prague Biennale 2 , Prague  
Elements of Abstraction , Southampton City Art Gallery, UK  
Werken Aan De Toekomst Van Een Culturstad , Symposium Gorinchem, Netherlands
2006  Sztuka Optyczna i Kinetyczna , Muzeum Chelmskie, W Chelmie, Poland  European Neo-Constructivism of 1930-2000 , Moscow
Museum of Modern Art (and tour)  
In Omaggio a Paolo Minoli , Casa per l’Arte, Cantu, Italy  
Op-Art , Galerie Latzer, Kreuzlingen, Switzerland  
Arte Cinetica , Spazzio Boccioni, Milan
2007  Towards a Rational Aesthetic ; Osborne Samuel Gallery, London  
Swingujacy Londyn-Kolekcja Grabowskiego , Museum Sztuki w Lodzi, Poland
 Circa 1967 , Milton Keynes Gallery, UK
2008  Razumsko Oko, Mednarodni Graficni , Likovni Centre, Ljubljana, Slovenia
A Rational Aesthetic , Southampton City Art Gallery, UK
L’Arte Costruisce L’Europa, Arte Struktura , Milan (and tour)
2009  Studio Exhibition , Curated by Trevor Clarke, London  Twentieth Century British Art , Osborne Samuel Gallery, London
2010  System Construction Creation , Osborne Samuel Gallery, London
2011  Black and White , Komart Gallery, Berlin  
Dalla Intuizione alla Projrammazione 1921-2009 , Lipari, Italy  
The Conversation , Von Bartha Collection, Basle  
Construction and its Shadow,  Leeds City Art Gallery, UK
2012  Kontinuit t und Erneuerung , Galerie Reckermann, Cologne  
Concrete Parallels/Concretos Paralelos , Cultura Inglesa, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2013  Frieze Masters, London , Dan Galeria, Sao Paulo, Brazil  
Experiment in Time , Laurent Delaye Gallery, London  
Printiau’r Cyhoeddi , Bay Art Gallery, Cardiff  
Dynamo, Un siècle de lumière et de mouvement dans l’art 1913-2013 , Grand Palais, Paris
2014  Conversations Around Marlow Moss , & Model Gallery, Leeds  
Patch of Yellow Wall , Lion and Lamb Gallery, London  
Automatic Art , GV Art Gallery, London
The Social Bases of Abstract Art , UpDown Gallery, Ramsgate, Kent, UK  
44 Protagonists of the Responsive Eye, Now and Then , Galleria Orler, Mestre, Italy
2016  Spotlight on Systems , Tate Britain, London
2017  British Constructivism , Pallant House, Chichester, UK
2018  Action-Reacttion, 100 years of kinetic art,  Kunsthal, Rotterdam, Holland
Selected collections
Tate Gallery, London
Southampton City Art Gallery
Arts Council of England
Arts Council of Wales
The British Library, London
Conoco -Philips Collection, Warwick
Dean Clough Collection, Halifax
Forum Konkrete Kunst, Erfurt
Gemeente Museum, The Hague
Logica PLC, London
Rijksmuseum Meermano, The Hague
Stamford University, USA
University of Sussex
Victoria and Albert Museum, London