Mary Fedden

Mary Fedden, (14 August 1915 – 22 June 2012) was a British artist.

Early years Sometimes mistakenly described as the daughter of Roy Fedden (who was in fact her uncle, as was Romilly Fedden), Mary Fedden was born in Bristol where she attended the city's Badminton School. At the age of 16, she studied at the Slade School of Fine Arts, London from 1932 to 1936. Of her time at the Slade, she recalled, 'after Badminton, the Slade was like stepping from hell into heaven.' At the Slade, Fedden was a pupil of the theatre designer, Vladimir Polunin.

When she finished her studies, she taught, painted portraits and created stage designs for Sadler's Wells Theatre. She then returned to Bristol where she painted and taught until World War II broke out. During the Second World War, Fedden served in the Women's Land Army and the Woman's Voluntary Service and as a driver for the NAAFI in Europe. She was also commissioned to create murals for the war effort.

Style and influences After the war was over, Fedden developed her own style of flower paintings and still lifes, reminiscent of artists such as Matisse and Braque.

In 1995, she acknowledged in an interview in The Artist magazine: I really float from influence to influence…. I found the early Ben Nicholsons fascinating as were the paintings of his wife Winifred. I also admire the Scottish artist Anne Redpath and the French painter Henri Hayden. Colindale Hospital in 1985, from 1965 to 1970.

Personal life In 1951, Mary Fedden married the artist Julian Trevelyan.

Later career In 1995, the writer and critic Mel Gooding wrote a monograph on Fedden's work tracing her long career up to her marriage to Julian Trevelyan and their life together on the Thames at Chiswick, London. In 2007, a second book on Fedden written by Christopher Andreae was published, tracing her whole career up to 2006.

From 1984, Fedden held the post of President of the Royal West of England Academy (RWA), up until 1988, the same year her husband Julian Trevelyan died. She was an academician of the Royal Academy and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bath. She also received an OBE and an honorary degree from the University of Durham (2009) for her work.

For many years, Fedden was a close friend of the former television presenter Anna Ford. Fedden remained a prolific and popular painter until her death in 2012. She continued to live and work in the studio she shared with her husband from the 1940s on the River Thames, London. She died, aged 96, in London.