Mary Fedden (1915 - 2012)

 

English painter and set designer; born in Bristol; wanted to be a painter even as a child; educated at Badminton and left at sixteen to study at the Slade School of Fine Art under theatre designer Vladimir Polunin, 1932-1936; painted sets at Sadlers Wells but decided against stage design as a career; returned to Bristol; taught art and made a living painting portraits; served in WW II, first in the Land Army, then as a stage painter of propaganda murals, finally as a driver for the Navy, Army, and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI), 1944; resumed painting in 1946, exhibiting a number of still life and flower works; moved back to London, where she still lives and works; married Julian Trevelyan and travelled with him in Europe, Africa, India, Russia, and the USA; she was the first woman to teach in the painting school of the Royal College of Art, 1958-1964; she was elected to the Royal Academy, Senior Order,1992; served as President of the Royal West of England Academy, 1984-1988 and received the OBE in the 1990s. She died in June 2012.

 

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