Norman Toynton (born 25 January 1939 in London) is a British abstract painter who lived for many years in America, where his work was acclaimed for its 'grand visual and tactile splendour' [1] and for 'marshal(ling) all the sensuous force of color and oil paint to induce us to look with truly questioning attention'.
Born in London in 1939, Toynton's home was destroyed by bombing during the war and he spent his early childhood in a series of temporary accommodations.
In the early 60s, Toynton was part of the first British Pop Art exhibition at the Grabowski Gallery and participated in the first London happening with Carolee Schneemann at Dennison Hall.
[3] Meanwhile, he'd become increasingly interested in the art coming out of America, particularly after the Jackson Pollock show at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1958, and his work was tending more towards abstraction.
In a review of one of his solo exhibitions in Artnews, David Bonetti called his paintings 'works of such authenticity that they are shocking…Toynton dares to salvage beauty from the banal',[6] while Kenneth Baker, in a feature article on him in ArtForum, declared, 'I know of few abstract painters who have the patience and intelligence to practice their art deliberately enough to let us see painting for the thinking process it is.