Mary Adshead

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mary Adshead (born February 15, 1904 in London , † September 3, 1995 in London ) was an English painter , illustrator and designer . Wall paintings were also part of her work .

life and work

Mary Adshead was married to the painter Stephen Bone. During the War they spent summer holidays with their children at Barmouth, a seaside resort on Cardigan Bay, North Wales. The sight of a group of soldiers Art.IWMART16837.jpg

Adshead was born in Bloomsbury, London, the only child of the architect, watercolorist and professor of Civic Design , who first taught in Liverpool and later at London University , and his wife Mary. Adshead attended Putney High School from 1916 to 1919. Then she lived in Paris for six months. Due to her father's position at London University, she was able to enroll at the Slade School of Art at the age of sixteen in 1921 . It was there that Henry Tonks became aware of her skills and gave her the first order for a mural in Wapping . This was a collaboration with Rex Whistler . The success led to further orders. Her next mural, done in 1924, was on a desert island, and she painted it for Charles Reilly , Professor of Architecture at the University of Liverpool . This mural still exists today and it is on display at the University of Liverpool Art Gallery. A large mural by Adshead, The Housing of the People , was exhibited at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924 .

She carried out another assignment for Lord Beaverbrook . She decorated his dining room with scenes from Newmarket Racecourse and portraits of his friends, including Arnold Bennett , Lady Louis Mountbatten , and Winston Churchill , on their way to the racecourse. The project was never completed because Beaverbrook was concerned that from now on he would be confronted with the portraits on a daily basis and that he might fall out with one of the characters. Beaverbrook paid Adsehead a two-thirds discount and returned the finished panels. These were exhibited in a London department store in 1930. Later, all but three of the plates were destroyed by fire during storage. She painted another mural for the British Pavilion at the Paris World Exhibition in 1937 .

She had her first solo exhibition in 1930 at the Goupil Gallery . In collaboration with her husband, she illustrated two children's books. She designed several postage stamp issues for the General Post Office in 1949, followed by the high-value 2s 6d and 5s definitive stamps in 1951. She also designed the frame around the portrait of Elizabeth II on the 8d, 9d, 10d and 11d definitive stamps Definitive series Elisabeth II. (Wilding) . In 1950 she decorated the fourth floor of the Selfridges restaurant with scenes from the jungle. She also made poster designs for the London transport system and several murals, which have now been lost, for the underground station Bank and sets for the film Cleopatra . Despite her busy schedule, she also found time to organize the Society of Mural Painters .

In 1929 she married Stephen Bone , the son of the artist Muirhead Bone . From this marriage she had two sons and a daughter. After her husband died in 1958, she toured Europe and the United States.

She studied techniques of mosaic decoration in Ravenna and Sicily and had a number of exhibitions both as a solo artist and alongside the works of Stephen Bone. Despite a lameness due to her way of painting ladders out, Adshead remained an active artist until her end.

literature

  • Matthew H. Clough, Ann Compton: Earthly delights: Mary Adshead, 1904-1995 , University of Liverpool Art Gallery, 2004

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d HCG Matthew & Brian Harrison (editors): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Volume 1 Aaron-Amory . Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-19-861351-2 .
  2. ↑ a b c OBITUARY: Mary Adshead. In: co.uk. Retrieved September 4, 2015 .
  3. ^ Mary Adshead at Liss Llewellyn Fine Art. In: lissfineart.com. Retrieved September 4, 2015 .
  4. ↑ a b Alicia Foster: Tate Women Artists . Tate Publishing, 2004, ISBN 1-85437-311-0 .

Web links

Commons : Mary Adshead  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Adshead, Mary
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English painter, illustrator and designer
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH September 3, 1995
Place of death London