PHYLLIS BRAY L.G. (1911 – 1991)
“On the Shore” (Possibly Braunton). Watercolour. 15 ¾” x 19 ¾”
(400 x 502mm). Signed. Provenance – the Artist’s Studio Collection IMAGE
Phyllis Bray was a
painter of still life, figures and landscapes, an illustrator, muralist and
collector. Born in Norwood, London she was married for several years to the
painter John Cooper, until the marriage was dissolved, their daughter being
Philippa Cooper, then married Eric Phillips.
Her father was William de bray, who had been attached to Maria Fyodorovna, mother of the murdered Tsar Nicholas II. As a
child she wanted to be an artist and claimed to be the youngest scholarship
student at the Slade School of Fine Art when she joined it. She was a favourite of Henry Tonks and won a
Slade Drawing Prize. In the mid-1920s
Cooper spearheaded formation of the East London Group of painters with which
Phyllis Bray was closely involved. Her
connection with the East End was strengthened
when she completed three large murals for the People's Palace in the Mile End Road. For over 40 years she helped the mural
painter Hans Feibusch, working in many churches
around Britain. From 1930 to 1937 she taught in adult
education. She joined the London Group
in 1934, showing with it regularly, also at Leicester Galleries, the Royal Academy,
the London Wildenstein, the Drian Gallery and Mignon
Gallery Bath. She also exhibited in Sydney, Australia. She did a large volume of publicity,
including work for Shell, the John Lewis Partnership and London Transport; her book illustrations included Alison Uttley's A Traveller
in Time. In the 1950s and 1960s she
collected medieval and Renaissance jewellery for modest sums; the Phyllis
Phillips collection was sold at Christie's in 1989 for £576,000. She is
represented in the Walker Art Gallery Liverpool and Blackpool Art
Gallery and work by her
can be found in St. Crispin's Church, Bermondsey. She is listed in "Who's Who in
Art" as having lived at 46 Platt's Lane, London, N.W.3. and she died at Hampstead, North London in 1991 with a memorial show being held at
Collyer-Bristow in 1998.
BACK
