School of Art

Contact Details

School of Art
Aberystwyth University
Buarth Mawr
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
SY23 1NG

Tel: +44 (0)1970 622460

Fax: +44 (0)1970 622461

Email: artschool@aber.ac.uk


Display artist/maker:

Mary Rennell , Lady

Born: 1901   Died: 1981

Painter. Daughter of the 1st Lord of Bicester, married to Francis Rennell Rodd (Lord Rennell of Rodd), a noble diplomat, banker and explorer. She studied at Slade School of Fine Art from 1918-22, under Henry Tonks and Phillip Wilson Steer. Upon graduation she began work as a professional painter. She widely travelled overseas, holding solo exhibitions in America and Australia, along with showing in prestigious British institutions such as the Royal Academy of Art, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the WAC Gallery. Her work is housed in the WAC and the National Library of Wales. Rennell originally exhibited under her maiden name of Mary Smith. She lived in America from 1940-5, during which time she abstained from painting, and in fact did not recover the art until the 1960s. When arthritis prevented her working with oils, she worked in Chinese ink on rice paper. In 1975 Fowler-Wright Books Ltd published a limited edition book titled ‘The Paintings of Mary Rennell’, which featured demonstrative plates of her work, some of which were even hand-coloured by Rennell herself.

Objects in the collections associated with this artist/maker

Portrait of Gwilym Prichard WD1111 WaterColourOrDrawings




 
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