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Thursday, 3 May 2012

dorothy mead


Mead (1928–1975) was a British painter.
Mead was born in London, England,She first met David Bomberg (1890–1957) when he was teaching at the Dagenham School of Art in 1944.The Becontree estate was the largest public housing project in the world when it was completed in the mid-1930s. Recognising the need for education but with no responsibility to provide it, the London County Council transferred 24 acres on the western edge of the estate to Essex County Council, who built a technical college (the South East Essex Technical College) and a secondary school (South East Essex Technical High School) on the site. The College opened in 1936, in a building designed by J.Stuart.
During World War II, the College was commandeered by the British Army and the Royal Air Force.The secondary school moved to a new site in Cannington Road in 1960.The technical college was renamed Barking Regional (Meads Pieta)College of Technology in 1965, following the creation of the London Borough of Barking. In 1969 it became the Barking Campus of the North East London Polytechnic,File:UEL StratfordUniversityHouse.jpg which in turn became the Polytechnic of East London in 1988File:University of East London Docklands.jpg and the University of East London in 1992.File:West Ham Technical Institute (Nov 1898).jpgIn 2006 the campus was closed and sold for redevelopment by Taylor Wimpey. Flats in the main building is being marketed as "Mayesbrook Manor", and new buildings on the rest of the site are being branded "Academy (Bomberg)Central". She followed him when he moved to the City Literary Institute in London and then to the .The City Lit is an adult education college in Covent Garden, central London, offering over 4,000 part-time courses in areas such as languages, visual arts, music, drama, humanities and more, available during the evenings, daytimes or weekends..PolytechnicFile:London South Bank University Keyworth Centre.jpg where she studied under Bomberg from 1945 to 1951.he was one of the most audacious painters of his generation at the Slade. His treatment of the human figure, in terms of angular, clear-cut forms combined with enormous energy, shows his determination to bring about a drastic renewal in British painting. Mead was a founder member of the Borough Group in 1946 together with other pupils of Bomberg including Cliff Holden.
From 1956 until 1959, Mead was a mature student at the Slade School of Art, following Bomberg's inspiration.Here she met artist and teacher Andrew Forge. She had a major influence on students such as Patrick Procktor and Mario Dubsky and was the first woman president of the student annual exhibiting society, Young Contemporaries (later renamed New Contemporaries), in 1959. In the same year she was required to leave the Slade, despite having won awards for her work, as a result of her having refused to sit the course on perspective, belieivng - with Bomberg - that the approach was invalid. A thesis by her explaining her view was not accepted by the principal, William Coldstream. In the Arts Council series of touring exhibitions, Six Young Painters, Mead exhibited in 1964 with other artists including Peter Blake, William Crozier, David Hockney, Bridget Riley, and Euan Uglow(below). Mead joined the London Group of artists in 1960 and was President from 1971–73, succeeding Andrew Forge in the position.
The collection of the Tate Gallery and other art museums include work by Mead.Mead's paintings were shown at the 1991 exhibition Bomberg and his Legacy, held in Eastbourne at the Towner Art Gallery. In 2005, a retrospective exhibition was held thirty years after her death. Despite the esteem she had earned from fellow artists, it was her first ever solo exhibition.

1 comment:

  1. Did she ever sign any art on the bottom left? Did she work in other media...chalk? I have a lead on a 'still life' mid-century frame, with vase/flower. tucsonted2000@yahoo.com

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