Andrew Lambirth

Great Dane

Per Kirkeby<br /> Tate Modern, until 6 September

issue 05 September 2009

Per Kirkeby
Tate Modern, until 6 September

Last chance to see this intriguing exhibition of paintings and sculptures by one of Denmark’s most original artists. Per Kirkeby (born 1938) is little known in this country, though his work was included in the seminal 1981 survey A New Spirit in Painting, and there were shows at the Whitechapel in 1985 and the Tate in 1998. Back in the Eighties, I was fortunate to know someone who owned a Kirkeby painting, and that first sparked my interest. Now there’s an opportunity to see a large exhibition of his work, laying out the principal areas of his achievement. It’s an impressive experience.

In 1957, Kirkeby went to the University of Copenhagen to study natural history, and his early training as a geologist is fundamental to his subsequent work and obsessions as an artist.

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