Kenneth Peacock Tynan

© National Portrait Gallery, London. Image credit: National Portrait Gallery, London

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Theatre critic. Born in Birmingham, the illegitimate son of a Midlands magnate, Tynan won a scholarship to Oxford from King Edward's School. He began his career with the Evening Standard. From 1954 to 1963 he wrote for the Observer, championing dramatists such as Osborne, Wesker, and Delaney, and the poetic drama of Eliot and Fry. He popularised Brecht and the Theatre of the Absurd in the work of Simpson and Beckett. A socialist and campaigner for nuclear disarmament, Tynan took on the Lord Chamberlain's Office in its role as theatre censor, notably with his revue Oh! Calcutta! (1969). He was the first literary manager of the National Theatre.
The artist reported that Tynan was 'looking round for a way to escape' while sitting for his portrait.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

Kenneth Peacock Tynan

Date

1963

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 76.2 x W 63.5 cm

Accession number

5692

Acquisition method

Given by Brenda Bury, 1983

Work type

Painting

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