Norman Dilworth

Norman Dilworth (1931–2023) was a British painter, sculptor, draughtsman and printmaker whose work was closely associated with Systems, Concrete and Constructivist art. An interest in mathematics and formal relationships underpinned much of his practice, from early black-and-white paintings and drawings to later reliefs and large-scale sculptural constructions.

Born in Wigan, Dilworth studied at Wigan School of Art before attending the Slade School of Fine Art from 1952 to 1956, where he worked across both the painting and sculpture departments. He was awarded the Henry Tonks Prize in 1955 and the Sunday Times Drawing Prize the following year. A French Government Scholarship then took him to Paris, where he continued his studies and became friendly with Alberto Giacometti.

During the 1960s Dilworth’s work was associated with Kinetic Art, and in 1966 he was included in a survey exhibition alongside Bridget Riley and Michael Kidner. By the 1970s his practice had moved towards Constructivism, with freestanding sculptures and reliefs based on ordered geometric systems. He became closely associated with artists including Kenneth Martin, Malcolm Hughes and Jeffrey Steele, and took part in important exhibitions including Constructive Art at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery in 1973 and the Arts Council touring exhibition Constructive Context in 1978.

In 1980 Dilworth co-organised Pier + Ocean with Gerhard von Graevenitz at the Hayward Gallery, London. The exhibition examined links between Constructivism and international movements including Minimalism, Conceptual Art, Land Art and Arte Povera. During these years Dilworth also completed numerous public and private commissions, particularly in the Netherlands, many on a monumental scale.

Dilworth lived for many years in the Netherlands before moving to Lille in 2002. Solo exhibitions included the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Calais, in 2005 and a retrospective at the Musée Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis, in 2007. His first exhibition at The Redfern Gallery, Time & Tide, was held in 2017; from this exhibition the Art Fund acquired his wall piece Signs for Leeds Museums and Galleries. In 2019 he became the first British recipient of the Peter C. Ruppert Prize for Concrete Art in Europe.

Norman Dilworth died on 25 January 2023, aged 92. The Estate of Norman Dilworth is represented by The Redfern Gallery.