Situation

Situation (in full, ‘Situation: An Exhibition of British Abstract Painting'). An exhibition staged in September 1960 at the Galleries of the Royal Society of British Artists, London, by a group of predominantly young British painters who were united by their admiration for American Abstract Expressionism. The catalogue listed 20 artists, but only 18 in fact showed their work. Paintings included had to be totally abstract and at least 30 square feet (c. 3 square metres) in size; the name of the exhibition came from the participants’ idea that an abstract painting that occupied the whole field of vision would involve the spectator in an ‘event’ or ‘situation'. Robyn Denny was the organizing secretary and other artists represented included Gillian Ayres, Bernard and Harold Cohen, John Hoyland, Bob Law, Richard Smith, and William Turnbull. These artists felt frustrated by the lack of exposure given to large-scale abstract works by commercial galleries, and in organizing the exhibition themselves they aimed to bypass the dealer system. The following year, however, the London dealers Marlborough Fine Art staged an exhibition featuring 16 of the 18 who had participated in the original show, with the addition of the sculptor Anthony Caro; this was entitled ‘New London Situation: An Exhibition of Abstract Art'. In 1962–3 the Arts Council organized a touring exhibition of the work of the group entitled ‘Situation: An Exhibition of Recent British Abstract Art'. The three exhibitions marked a move towards a more international context for British painting.

Sometimes the artists who took part in the exhibitions are called ‘Situationists’ (for example in Daniel Wheeler's Art Since Mid-Century, 1991), but this usage is regrettable, as it runs the risk of confusion with Situationism.