Pamela Kay RWS RBA NEAC, Mushrooms Study – Original 20th-century oil painting

Pamela Kay RWS RBA NEAC Mushrooms Study

Regular Price: £450.00

Sale Price: £450.00
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View the full Collection: Kay RWS RBA NEAC, Pamela (b.1939)

An original 20th-century oil painting, Pamela Kay RWS RBA NEAC, Mushrooms Study.

A striking painting by Pamela Kay (b.1939), one of Britain’s foremost painters of still lifes. Likely dating from around the late 1970s. Pamela Kay is best known for her simple presentations of humble flower or fruit subjects, in soft diffused light, full of quiet charm.

An award winning painter, who had a successful early career as a textile designer, Kay's humility is perhaps her greatest power. Whilst studying at Canterbury College of Art, she worked as a studio assistant and model to the artist John Ward CBE, late RA, NEAC, who proved her most influential teacher. Ward championed good draughtsmanship and had a traditional work ethic that in the 1990s was at odds with the iconoclastic 'Young British Artists' (Ward's disgust over the Sensation exhibition of the Saatchi Collection in 1997 led to his resignation from the Royal Academy). In its quiet own way, the work of Kay, like that of Ward, is steadfast against prevailing fashions. By focusing intently on everyday objects, she pronounces: 'humility is the watchword. No ego, no celebrity seeking, no pushing and shoving. There are things far larger and more profound than us.'

An artist of learning and scholarship, Kay considers herself to work in the French tradition of such masters as Chardin (1699–1779) and Fantin-Latour (1836–1904). Chardin rejected the 18th-century fashion for classical subjects and rococo style, preferring to paint still lifes of humble household objects, and Fantin-Latour painted simple, elegant still lifes in opposition to the dominant academicism of the 19th century. Describing her own motivation behind her choice of still life subjects, Kay says: 'you have to be totally taken by the life in inanimate objects—the most humble and overlooked'.

This is one of four still lifes by Pamela Kay that we have for sale.

In oil paint on canvas board.

Paintings by Pamela Kay usually retail over £1,000, so this is an opportunity to acquire this highly collectable artist at a fantastic price.

Pamela Kay (b.1939)

Pamela Kay (b.1939) was born on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent. She studied for four years at Canterbury College of Art under Christopher Alexander, Alec Vickerman and Eric Hurren, while working part-time for two years as studio assistant to John Ward. During this time she was the model for Ward's illustrations for Laurie Lee’s Cider with Rosie, 1959. Ward proved such an influential mentor and teacher that in her early career Kay felt the need to forge her own path, moving into textile design. She won a Sanderson wallpaper competition and studied design at Royal College of Art for three years, after which she launched a successful design practice. Kay was offered the position of Head of Design and Production at John Lewis, but turned this down in order to concentrate on painting.

Kay went on to be appointed Member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1984, of the New English Art Club in 1985, and of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours in 1986. From that time, she held regular solo shows with London dealers, including Medici Gallery, Chris Beetles Gallery, Catto Gallery and Bankside Gallery. She has also illustrated books, written publications and taught at the School of Architecture, Canterbury.