Mary Fedden

Mary Fedden RA OBE (1915–2012) was one of the most admired British painters of the post-war period, best known for still lifes in which flowers, fruit, vessels and everyday objects are set against landscapes, interiors or views through windows. Her paintings combine clarity of form with richly considered colour and an enduring interest in the poetry of ordinary things.

Born in Bristol, Fedden studied at the Slade School of Fine Art from 1932 to 1936, where she was taught by the theatre designer Vladimir Polunin. After leaving the Slade she worked on stage designs, taught art and painted portraits. During the Second World War she served in the Land Army, the Women’s Voluntary Service and later as a driver for NAAFI overseas.

After the war Fedden returned fully to painting. In 1949 she moved to Durham Wharf on the Thames at Chiswick, where she lived and worked for the rest of her life. In 1951 she married the artist Julian Trevelyan, with whom she travelled extensively in Europe, Africa, India, Russia and the United States. That same year she received a commission to paint a mural for the Festival of Britain.

The Redfern Gallery played an important role in the development of Fedden’s career. Her first exhibition at the gallery was held in 1953, followed by further solo exhibitions in 1956, 1959, 1962 and 1967. These shows helped establish her reputation during the period in which her mature still-life language was taking shape.

Fedden’s paintings frequently combine carefully observed objects with invented or remembered landscapes. She often placed familiar forms — a jug, a lemon, a fish, a shell, a flower — against an open window or distant view, creating images that are at once domestic and expansive. Although her compositions are apparently simple, they depend on subtle relationships of scale, colour and space.

Teaching also formed an important part of Fedden’s career. From 1958 to 1964 she taught painting at the Royal College of Art, where she was the first woman tutor in the Painting School. Her students during this period included artists who would become central figures in British art of the 1960s. She subsequently taught at the Yehudi Menuhin School from 1965 to 1970.

Fedden became President of the Royal West of England Academy from 1984 to 1988 and was elected a Royal Academician in 1992. She was appointed OBE in 1997. Major retrospectives included exhibitions at the Royal West of England Academy and a substantial survey in 2008 bringing together work from across six decades.

Her work is held in major public collections including Tate, the Government Art Collection and the Royal Collection.

The Redfern Gallery’s exhibitions of Fedden during the 1950s and 1960s form an important part of the gallery’s history of supporting British painters in the post-war period.