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Stephenson:
Slightly Apart
Stephenson, John Cecil, Abstraction, 1934
© Private Collection. Courtesy of Liss Llewellyn and Three Highgate
Three Highgate Arts Foundation, in collaboration with Liss Llewellyn, presents Stephenson: Slightly Apart (11 June – 9 October 2026), an exhibition of work by John Cecil Stephenson (1889 – 1965), curated by Alistair Hicks.
The exhibition forms part of the Foundation’s charitable programme dedicated to revisiting artists whose work sits slightly outside the more familiar narratives of British modernism.
Just a short walk from Three Highgate, Hampstead was, for a brief period in the 1930s and early 1940s, a place of unusual concentration. Artists, architects and writers gathered around the Mall Studios and its surrounding streets, forming a loose but highly active network shaped by exchange, debate and, increasingly, by displacement. Figures such as Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Ben Nicholson passed through or settled there, alongside émigré artists, such as Piet Mondrian, who brought with them new ideas that unsettled what had been a largely insular British art scene.
Stephenson, John Cecil, Perseus and Andromeda, 1945
© Private Collection. Courtesy of Liss Llewellyn and Three Highgate
Stephenson was part of this circle, though never entirely of it. Slightly older than many of his contemporaries, and less inclined towards self-promotion, he occupied a position that was both central and curiously detached. As one later account noted, he would come to be regarded as among the earliest artists in Britain to develop a fully abstract language, yet his work remained shaped by a more open and exploratory approach.
The exhibition focuses on the tension that runs throughout Stephenson’s work between abstraction and figuration. Early studio paintings give way to increasingly pared-back compositions, yet traces of the observed world persist. In works such as Abstraction (6 Mall Studios, NW3) (1934), spatial structure begins to suggest the human form, while later paintings, including Perseus and Andromeda (1945), reintroduce figuration through a fluid, almost calligraphic line. The boundary between the two is never fixed; instead, it remains in motion.
Although often associated with the development of geometric abstraction in Britain, Stephenson’s approach was never doctrinaire. His path into abstraction was gradual, emerging through the reworking of observed forms — machines, studio objects, architectural elements — into increasingly simplified structures. This openness allows for a body of work that resists a single definition, shifting between systems and sensations, structure and suggestion.
Stephenson lived and worked at No. 6 Mall Studios for over four decades, at the centre of what Herbert Read famously described as “a nest of gentle artists”. Daily exchanges, visits and conversations formed an essential backdrop to his practice, yet his position within this environment remained distinct — engaged, but never fully aligned with any single movement or ideology.
Central to the later development of his work was his relationship with the artist Kathleen Guthrie. Over the final decades of his life, their practices evolved in close proximity, with Guthrie’s exploration of colour and semi-abstract form introducing a renewed sense of rhythm and movement into Stephenson’s painting. The exhibition reflects this dialogue, presenting Guthrie as a vital counterpart rather than a peripheral figure.
Rather than attempting to reconstruct the full network of Hampstead modernism, this exhibition takes a more concentrated view. It returns to the studio — to a quieter, more sustained practice unfolding in North London over several decades, just beyond the more visible centres of the avant-garde. Seen in this light, Stephenson’s work begins to gather a different kind of clarity — less declarative, but no less assured. As Herbert Read later wrote, he created “a world of visual delight that must at last be shared with a wide and appreciative public.”
Guthrie, Kathleen, Convalescence, undated
© The Artist's Estate. Courtesy of Liss Llewellyn and Three Highgate
Notes to Editors, Press and Visitors
Stephenson: Slightly Apart runs 11 June – 9 October 2026. The exhibition is open 2 to 6 pm on Thursdays and Saturdays, 12 to 4 pm on Sundays, and by appointment on all other days. For further information, images, and interview requests please contact Three Highgate team at info@threehighgate.com / +44 203 795 7200
About Alistair Hicks
Alistair Hicks is a writer and an art curator. He is currently working on a show for the Pera Museum in Istanbul about creation and destruction in the work of Frank Bowling, Francis Bacon and Victor Willing. He recently curated Paula Rego shows at the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hanover, and the Pera Museum and an exhibition ‘Dancing with the Moon: Marcel Dzama’ with a little help from his friend Raymond Pettibon at the Pera Museum. Previously, he was a Senior Curator at Deutsche Bank. Alistair is the author of The Global Art Compass: New Directions in 21st Century Art (2014), Urban Mirrors – Reflections from the Artists of Istanbul (2022), Art Works: British and German Contemporary Art, 1960-2000 (2001), New British Art in the Saatchi Gallery (1989), and The School of London: The Resurgence of Contemporary Painting (1989). He has also written as an art critic and contributor for leading publications, including The Times and Financial Times and The Spectator, Apollo and Frieze magazines, among others.
About Three Highgate Arts Foundation
Three Highgate Arts Foundation is a charitable foundation established to advance the arts and education through exhibitions, film, publishing, residencies, talks and educational programmes. Building on the work of Three Highgate, an independent cultural platform established in Highgate in 2021, the Foundation develops research-led projects connecting modern and contemporary art, film and contemporary thought. Particular emphasis is placed on overlooked artistic legacies, emerging practices and projects that bring new perspectives to art, culture and cultural history. Exhibitions, films and publications are selected for artistic excellence, educational value and alignment with the Foundation’s charitable purposes. Registered Charity Number: 1217940
About Liss Llewellyn
Liss Llewellyn was created in 1991 by Paul Liss and Sacha Llewellyn. Sourcing paintings directly from artists’ estates and private collections, for over 30 years, Liss Llewellyn has offered for sale museum quality works of art by some of the most significant talents of the 20th century. Many of these have been placed in public museums and galleries as well as purchased by some of the greatest private collectors of our day. Our website is designed as both a resource for research and a marketplace. Working in association with museums worldwide, Liss Llewellyn has curated many groundbreaking monographic and thematic exhibitions. Each of these is accompanied by a scholarly catalogue, over ten of which have been long-listed for the William MB Berger Prize for Art History, (awarded to Sacha Llewellyn in 2017 for her monograph on Winifred Knights).