Newspaper Article

Obituary: Michael Kenny

Buckman, David

2000

Overview

Kenny was born in Liverpool in 1941, the only child of James Kenny, a precision engineer, and his wife, Helen. Michael [Kenny] attended a Roman Catholic school, where his artistic ability was encouraged, but left early to earn his living in a laboratory. His interest in painting continued, fostered by exhibitions at the local Walker Art Gallery, and he was persuaded to approach Liverpool Regional College of Art, where one of his teachers was Austin Davies, for a time husband of the novelist Beryl Bainbridge. Kenny's studies at Liverpool, between 1959 and 1961, coincided with an artistic revival there. The first John Moores Exhibition, which Kenny had seen, had taken place in 1957 (seven years later Kenny won a prize in the Littlewoods Sculptural Design Competition.) The local Pop scene was under way, Kenny's circle of friends and acquaintances including, as well as the artist Don McKinlay and poet- artist Adrian Henri, John Lennon and the \"fifth Beatle\", Stuart Sutcliffe. The last two were both students of the college, Sutcliffe, as well as touring with the Beatles, being a fine painter. The Liverpool College had an interesting staff, teachers including Martin Bell and Philip Hartas. It was a vibrant scene, encapsulated in John Willett's 1967 Liverpool survey Art in a City. A fellow student at the Slade remembers Kenny as a green provincial, then with a marked Liverpool accent, laconic and casual in his studies, at first apparently out of his depth. The immensely dynamic, perceptive and articulate [Reg] Butler divined Kenny's underlying work ethic. He liked the tall, dark-haired, dark-eyed, Mediterranean- looking student, and called him \"the Liverpool Italian\". They became friends, despite difference in age and status, and Butler recommended Kenny as a part-time tutor.

• Publisher: Independent Digital News & Media
• Subject: Butler, Reg