signed and dated ‘1957’ (lower left), signed again and inscribed ‘Green/Still Life/Mary Fedden/To the Royal College’ (on a label attached to the frame)
Further information »
Orange and Green Still Life, 1957
Exhibition History:
Hastings, Jerwood Gallery, Century: 100 Modern British Artists, 23 October 2016 – 8 January 2017;
London, Business Design Centre, London Art Fair Museum Partner, Ten Years – A Century of Art, 18 – 22 January 2017;
Woking, The Lightbox, In Their Own Words: Artists’ Voices from The Ingram Collection, 20 May – 30 July 2017;
Kendal, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Land | Sea | Life: A British Art Collection, 20 October 2017 – 17 February 2018;
Bristol, RWA, In Relation: Nine Couples who Transformed Modern British Art, 16 June – 9 September 2018;
Hull, Ferens Art Gallery, Reflection: British Art in an Age of Change, 17 August 2019 – 5 January 2020
Why do painters work in a particular style? Fedden had a frustrating time early in her career, working for five years as a Land Girl during World War Two before finally starting to paint full time. Still life was her preferred genre, and she continued to paint carefully orchestrated groups of objects until almost the day she died. At first her paintings were elegant but literal. You can tell from this painting that Fedden admired Winifred Nicholson, but this was also a time of transition for her. She had married painter Julian Trevelyan in 1951 and with his encouragement had abandoned her earlier, more literal style.
