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Margaret Thomas
Impressionist Royal Academy Oil on Canvas Modern British Art Flowers Slade

2006

About the Item

This beautifully compelling still life, oil on canvas board work was made by renown artist Margaret Thomas, a Modern British painter who trained in the inter-war years at both The Slade and The Royal College of Art in London. She was part of a generation of female artists who challenged inequality in the Academies. In 1943 she exhibited her first oil painting at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London. She went on to exhibit at the Royal Academy for another 46 consecutive years Item details: Margaret Thomas Birthday Bunch Oil on Canvas board image 59cm x 74cm framed 78cm x 91.5cm 2006 Signed bottom left Professionally framed. This is a particular frame that Margaret used for her paintings that were to be exhibited. Provenance, direct from the artist Exhibited at the Mall Galleries in London The painting is in all over excellent condition. The artwork comes with a certificate from the Gallery. This beautiful painting is compelling in its simplicity but also has the weighty feel of an artwork of substance and one that will stand the test of time. It has all the hallmarks of a painting by Margaret Thomas. Thomas loved flowers and her home and studio were scattered with pots full of alive, dead and decaying flowers. The vases were placed on chairs, tables and the floor, almost like friends, lolling around the studio. In Thomas's own words, 'I frequently return to the motif of a dying flower; I draw endless inspiration from these spiky, spectral and sculptural presences. When picked, flowers must be left alone to fulfil their destinies, to orientate to the light, to sort out their relative strengths, to stabilise and mature. They cannot be arranged. All this I seek to show in my paintings.' Margaret loved receiving flowers and often placed them paper and all in the vessel. This is exactly what she has painted in Birthday Bunch. The faded pink textile hanging to the left, showing the dog motif was a favourite object that often appeared in her paintings, a reminder of her childhood. All in all, this is a fabulous example of a work by Margaret Thomas. Margaret Thomas A lyrical painter, essentially in the English tradition, Margaret loved to paint still life compositions, particularly flowers. Towards the end of her life, her studio was full of vases and pots and bunches of dried and rather beautiful faded flowers; her friends, as she called them. Her paintings are littered with objects that shaped her life as an artist. A postcard of a particular exhibition she had visited or a piece of antique fabric that had hung in her nursery as a child. Colours, patterns and memories that inspired and became part of her narrative. Always working in oil paints, her exterior influences roamed between London, Norfolk and Edinburgh where she had homes. Earlier works often included figures but as she developed her own style the figurative narratives became less direct. It was more about the harmony in a piece and a reduced palette of slate greys, blues and pinks. Margaret was known to cite Braque and Philip Wilson Steer as early influences in her work and the creative tension produced between these two giants led to what she termed as 'a long tug-o-war' in her studio. The result was a flow of paintings that evoked this mid-century history of an interest in an almost abstract form and an undeniable Modern British palette. Despite a constant subject matter Margaret never repeated herself. One of her favourite flowers, a winter cyclamen, could be viewed in a fresh angle and a new light at every turn of her brush or palette knife. Returning most frequently to the motif of a dying flower, she draws endless inspiration from these spiky, spectral and sculptural presences. "Fading, dried, left to themselves, flowers begin to die from the beginning. When picked they must be left alone to fulfil their destinies, to orientate to the light, to sort out their relative strengths, to stabilise and to mature. They cannot be arranged. All this I seek to show in my paintings." Represented by leading Art Gallery Messum’s in London, Margaret continued to hold solo exhibitions with the Gallery up to the last few years of her life. Her work is held in Public and Private collections including The Government Art Collection UK, The Scottish National Gallery of Art, Oxford University and Lloyds of London.
  • Creator:
    Margaret Thomas (1916 - 2016, British)
  • Creation Year:
    2006
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 30.71 in (78 cm)Width: 36.03 in (91.5 cm)Depth: 1.78 in (4.5 cm)
  • Medium:
    Canvas,Oil,Board
  • Movement & Style:
    Impressionist
  • Period:
    2000-2009
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Norfolk, GB
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: MT Birthday Bunch1stDibs: LU1670210636382
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