John Penn "Nine Villas in Suffolk"

Margaret Howell Jinnan

Finished

Artists

John Penn

John Penn was born into a landowning family in Suffolk. He went to Eton, then Trinity College, Cambridge, thus experiencing three deep-rooted British institutions.

But his aesthetic instincts led him to study architecture in London and finally, following distinguished war service, to Los Angeles and the liberating influence of Richard Neutra's version of the European modernist tradition.

Penn described Los Angeles as the 'Far West," with New York being the West and London as the East. But in 1955, he carried the influence of all of these places back to the 'Far East' of Suffolk where he set up his own practice. For the next fifteen years he worked principally on private houses which are the subject of this exhibition.

Penn -- always a restless man, it appears -- gave up his practice after this and turned to other pursuits. However he retained a lively interest in the subsequent careers of these nine houses until his death in February this year.

Schedule

Oct 31 (Wed) 2007-Nov 15 (Thu) 2007