Catharine Armitage

Catharine Armitage (1944–2020) is known for abstract paintings rooted in landscape, in which colour, surface and edge are used to evoke natural forms and structures. Although her paintings can appear wholly abstract, landscape remained their consistent source, from the Cornish coast and countryside to places encountered during travels in Scandinavia and the Arctic.

Born in Surrey in 1944, Armitage spent part of her childhood in Derbyshire and came to painting relatively late. She worked first at a photographic agency in London and later as a personal assistant to an interior designer in Bristol. Shortly afterwards she met the painter Paul Feiler, who encouraged her to undertake evening art classes and pursue her interest in art. From 1967 to 1973 she studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, completing a degree in painting followed by postgraduate study in etching. She and Feiler married in 1970 and moved in 1973 to Kerris, Cornwall, where their twin sons were born the following year.

Her early work was influenced by Jean Dubuffet and by Feiler’s emphasis on the importance of edges within a composition. This became a defining element of her practice, with forms articulated through line, colour and the physical application of paint. Armitage remained particularly interested in surface and texture: while her earlier paintings are characterised by more evenly applied colour, later works became increasingly tactile, incorporating sand and, subsequently, collaged materials.

Landscape remained the underlying source of her work. The Waxholme series was inspired by a large outcrop of rocks in Sweden and developed from her own photographs, while the Dunderet series of 2009 arose from drawings made during a journey to the Arctic Circle. These works reflect her continuing interest in translating observed landscape into simplified forms, shifting planes and richly worked surfaces.

Armitage exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Britain and internationally, and also showed jointly with Paul Feiler. In 2018 The Redfern Gallery presented Catharine Armitage: The Way She Sees It, alongside its centenary retrospective of Feiler. In 2024, a retrospective of her work was held at Tremenheere Gallery, Cornwall, further bringing attention to the breadth and development of her practice.

The Estate of Catharine Armitage is represented by The Redfern Gallery.