In the catalogue for Robert Medley's major retropective at the Whitechpel Gallery in 1963, the paintings of this period are discussed in terms of the impact of American Abstract Expressionism:

'The impact of American painting gave Medley great encouragement in trusting to instinct, and to take care of apparent accidents. He had, however, always felt the need for terms of reference. These have become increasingly concerned with the act of seeing and feeling and less with what is called "looking". "The closer I look as an isolated act, the more illusory nature becomes. Appearance is purely accidental. Prolonged attachment to and contemplation of a subject leads me to the conclusion that I am not dealing any more with objects but with analogies. I need to break down a separation between myself and the subject. Neither can take place without the presence of the other." The problem for Medley with action painting was that it removed the conflict he had in testing the experience of the picture against the experience of reality.'

Robert Medley: Retrospective Exhibition paintings, drawings and sculpture 1928 - 1963, Whitechapel Gallery, London, 1963, p 10