MARY FEDDEN. FRUIT AND SCABIOUS. 1993. FOR SALE
MARY FEDDEN. FRUIT AND SCABIOUS
Size (excluding frame): 18” x 23” / 45.5cm x 57.5cm – EXCEPTIONALLY LARGE for a Fedden gouache/watercolour
Medium: Gouache on handmade art paper
Signed and dated: Fedden 1993
Framing: Original, simple silvered moulding frame and white mount. Bears original handwritten label to the verso “Mary Fedden Fruit + Scabious”
Provenance: Beaux Art Gallery in 1995, thence a distinguished private collection in the West Country.
MARY FEDDEN. FRUIT AND SCABIOUS.
‘Fruit and Scabious’ is a fine example of Mary Fedden’s love for painting everyday, simple objects in bright colours in her preferred medium of gouache (usually over a feint outline of pencil). Mary’s paintings reflect her love of simple, utilitarian objects – flowers in a vase, jugs on a table, fruit of all varieties, fish etc. – often placed, as here, in front of a contrasting backdrop, or distant landscape, seen through a window. Her passion for travelling and treasured places such as Gozo, Scotland, Sicily and the Cevennes also provided a great source of inspiration over the years, together with her love of animals and flowers/plants.
Mary Fedden had a rare talent for presenting everyday objects and simple themes in ‘staged’ compositions. She made brilliantly effective use of colour, as exemplified by this dramatic and exceptionally large painting ‘Fruit and Scabious’. Over the years gouache paintings, of which this work from 1993 is a really fine example, have become highly collectable. This is a very large and important example of the type of work that has made Mary Fedden a much loved and sort after figure in the Modern British art world.
