Vera Spencer (1926 – 14 January 2021) was a British painter and textile designer, whose work has been described as constructivist and modernist. Her work is exhibited and preserved in several public collections, including the Arts Council, the Tate gallery. Art historian Herta Wescher was a keen collector of her work.[1]
Vera Spencer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1926 |
| Died | (aged 94) London, United Kingdom |
| Education | Slade School of Fine Art, Central School of Arts and Crafts |
| Occupation(s) | painter, designer |
| Movement | Constructivism, Modernism |
Biography
editVera Spencer was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1926 but moved with her family to the United Kingdom in 1936. She attended the Slade School of Fine Art and the Central School of Arts and Crafts between 1946 and 1949.[2] She married the British designer Herbert Spencer, who founded the journal of typography Typographica in 1949 and taught typography at the Central School from 1949 to 1955.[1]
Spencer was one of the new, progressive abstract artists and contributed to many groundbreaking exhibitions from the early 1950s. She was associated with several artistic groups at the time, including the Constructionists, the Independent Group, and the Modern Movement.[1]
Her friendship with Paule Vézelay and links with Groupe Espace in Paris led to her joining the English branch, where she participated in their inaugural exhibition at the Royal Festival Hall in 1955.
Vera Spencer died in west London on 14 January 2021, aged 94.[1]
Alastair Grieve mentions Saunders in his 2005 book "Constructed Abstract Art in England After the Second World War: A Neglected Avant-Garde".[3] She is also named in art historian Alan Fowler's 2006 PhD thesis "Constructive Art in Britain 1913 – 2005".[4]
Exhibitions
editSolo
edit| 1948 | Galerie Apollinaire, Paris |
| 1952 | Galerie Arnaud, Paris |
| 1953 | (with Terence Conran), 22 Piccadilly Arcade |
| 1968 | Elizabeth Gallery, Coventry |
Group
edit| 1951 | Abstract Paintings, Sculptures, Mobiles, A.I.A. Gallery, London |
| Aspects of British Art, Gimpel Fils Gallery | |
| 1952 | Trois Peintres, Paris/A.I.A. Gallery |
| The Mirror and Square, A.I.A. Gallery | |
| 1953 | Third Weekend Exhibition, 22 Fitzroy Street, London |
| 1954 | Collages and Objects, ICA, London |
| Artist v. Machine, Building Centre, Store Street, London | |
| 1955 | First exhibition of the Groupe Espace of Great Britain, Royal Festival Hall, London |
| 1956 | International Collages Exhibition, Rose Fried Gallery, New York |
| 1964 | Cinquante ans de collages; papier colles, assemblages, collages, du Cubisme a nos jours, Musée d'Art et d'Industrie de Saint-Étienne, France[1] |
| 1992 | British Abstract Art, Belgrave Gallery, London |
Works in Public Collections
edit- Arts Council Collection London
- Tate Britain
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "Vera Spencer (1926–2021)". Saunders Fine Art. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
- ^ Buckman, David (1998), Dictionary of Artists in Britain since 1945, Art Dictionaries Ltd, p. 1072
- ^ Grieve, Alastair (2005), Constructed Abstract Art in England After the Second World War: A Neglected Avant-Garde, Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-10703-6
- ^ Fowler, Alan (2006), Constructivist Art in Britain 1913–2005, Winchester School of Art