MARY FEDDEN. MOTHER AND CHILD.

Size: 27″ x 19.25″ / 69cm x 49cm

Medium: graphite pencil on paper

Signed and dated: Fedden 1971

Framing: Unframed

Provenance: www.wilson55.com auctioneers in Nantwich, Cheshire, in February 2009, whence bought for a private collection, London

MARY FEDDEN. MOTHER AND CHILD.

Mary Fedden’s skill as a draughtsman and illustrator is undisputed. Her drawings are striking and exquisite with superbly controlled lines. These drawings are not the notations or ‘jottings’ of an artist using drawing as an aide-memoire but large, finished compositions. They are in no way rough sketches in preparation for subsequent oils or watercolours; they are designed to be exhibited and sold as works of art in their own right. Indeed, many of Mary Fedden’s watercolours often reappear as oils, or vice versa, some times in many different versions. However, her drawings tend to be unique in every sense – you rarely, if ever, see more than one version of a Mary Fedden drawing.

This drawing, Mother and Child, is one such highly finished work, dating from 1971. It depicts what appears to be a Victorian mother seated with her child on her lap, in a dark room, lit only by the glow of a single oil lamp, placed on a nearby table.

The admiration which Mary Fedden’s early drawings received led her to collaborate with master printmaker Stanley Jones of Curwen Press. This allowed her to share her drawings with a wider audience, enabling more and more people to enjoy her work. The result was a series of lithographs, created during the 1970s, worked on personally by Mary Fedden at Curwen Press.

MARY FEDDEN. MOTHER AND CHILD. Available for sale – please contact us for further details.