▲ Mary Fedden RA (British, 1915-2012)
'Peaceable Kingdom'

signed and dated 'Fedden 1952' l.l., oil on canvas

66 x 81cm; framed 84 x 96cm

With the Redfern Gallery, London, January 1953, where purchased by a private collector;
with Portland Gallery, London where purchased by RDV Garnett in 2008;
the estate of the late RDV Garnett, whose mother, [Ida] Nancy, was Mary Fedden's sister.

Exhibited: Portland Gallery, London, 'Mary Fedden - A Retrospective', 8 - 30 May 2008, cat. no. 3.

Known for her vibrant still lifes, seaside scenes, expressive cats and her figurative work, Mary Fedden has earned the reputation as one of Britian’s most popular artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Born in Bristol, Fedden had the desire to become an artist even as a child. She studied at the Slade School of Art from 1932 to 1936 under the theatre designer Vladimir Polunin, and later returned to Bristol, making a living teaching and painting portraits. During the Second World War, she served in the Land Army, the Woman’s Voluntary Service and travelled abroad while serving in the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI). After the war, she worked for a period as a stage painter for the Arts Theatre in Great Newport Street, before returning to focus on easel painting in 1946. Exhibitions followed at Heal’s Department Store and the Redfern Gallery, as well as cover illustration commissions from ‘Woman’ Magazine. In 1949, she moved to Durham Wharf on the bank of the Thames in Chiswick, which was a combined studio and living space she shared with her husband, the artist Julian Trevelyan, whom she married in 1951. Fedden and Trevelyan travelled extensively in America, Africa, Europe and India, incorporating their travels into their work. Fedden was selected to paint murals for the Festival of Britian in 1951, would go on teach at the Royal College of Art (counting David Hockney amongst her pupils) in the late 1950s, and was elected to the Royal Academy in 1992.

'Peaceable Kingdom', painted in 1952, is amongst Fedden’s most accomplished compositions of the immediate post-war period. The work is depicted in the muted earthy tones and loose free brush strokes that Fedden favoured at this time, later moving to graphic compositions in a brighter palette. Exhibited at the Redfern Gallery, London, in 1953, the scene shows a woman bathed in light traversing along a path in a Narnia-esque wood. The scene is one of tranquillity and equanimity, her arm is draped across the back of a lion, here as companion rather than predator, and she in turn poses no threat to the woodland creatures, reaching her hand out with an offering of food. The union between the woman and the lion, their meeting in peace and harmony, brings light to the darkened wilderness, and indeed leaves peace in its wake. In her path, we see a group of goats and a languishing tiger, serenely at ease with one another. Animals, and their relationship with humans, is a prevalent theme in Fedden’s work, particularly her cats, who often take on a human-like presence in her pieces. She had a profound respect for the natural world, and for all living things, which is epitomised in 'Peaceable Kingdom'.

Condition Report

Unlined. Craquelure. Deeper vertical craquelure when seen under bright light. A little light surface dust and dirt. The painting has a semi-glossy layer of varnish. There is a 7.5cm vertical ridge at the top of the canvas in the upper right just above the thin tree trunk. This can be seen under uv light. Small areas to lower area and girl's white dress also fluoresce. Please see additional conditional images.