THOMAS, Margaret

1916 - 2016

Margaret Thomas was born at Islington, London on 26 September 1916, daughter of Francis Stewart Thomas (1 April 1888-15 September 1971), director of a manufacturing business, and his wife Grace Darling née Whetherly (31 August 1888-1978), who married at Islington in 1913 and in 1939 were living at 'Barn Cottage', Parkwood Road, Hurst Road, Bexley, Kent. Margaret was educated privately and studied at Sidcup School of Art 1934-1936, winning a scholarship to the Slade School of Fine Art 1936-1938, followed by Royal Academy Schools 1938-1939 under Thomas Monnington (1902-1976) and Ernest Jackson (1872-1945). Margaret worked on a dairy farm, then in an apiary in Wiltshire 1941-1944 and her first painting ‘Still Life’ was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1938 and she subsequently showed in the Summer Exhibitions for most of the next fifty years. Working solely in oils, and always indoors, Margaret Thomas painted commonplace subjects such as flowers, interiors and water-dominated landscapes, which are rendered extraordinary by her singular vision. In 1947 elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists having her first solo exhibition at the Leicester Galleries, London in 1949 and another in 1951, the year that she was elected a member of the New English Art Club and has shown with that group annually ever since. In 1956 she purchased a studio in Edinburgh overlooking 'The Mound' but in 1972 purchased the Watch House on the Quay at Orford, Suffolk as her first studio in East Anglia and in 2000 took a studio on the top floor of the converted a Norfolk watermill, Ellingham Mill, Bungay on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. Margaret has also exhibited at Aitken Dotts, later the Scottish Gallery, in Edinburgh from 1952 also at Edinburgh Festival exhibition and the Canaletto Gallery, London; Howard Roberts Gallery, Cardiff; Minories, Colchester; Queen's University Belfast; Mall Galleries, London; Gallery Paton, Edinburgh; Snape Maltings Galleries, Suffolk; Sally Hunter Fine Art, London; Royal West of England Academy, Bristol and at Messum Fine Art, London. In 1971 and in 1996 awarded the De Lazlo Medal by the Royal Society of British Artists and in 1981 winner of the Hunting Group Award for the Oil Painting of the Year. She donated a work to the 'Westhall Secret Postcard Auction' in 2013 'Daisies'. Today her work is in the collections of The Chantrey Bequest and the Arts Council among other public bodies and are widely collected privately. She died just before her 100th birthday on 27 March 2016.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from Barn Cottage, Bexley, Kent
1938 609 Still Life
from 5 Swindon Street, Highworth, Wiltshire
1942 335 Elsie
from Halfway Cottage, 11a North Road, Highgate, North London
1946 356 Yorkshire Farm
1947 243 Summer Storm, Yorkshire
         288 Waiting
1948 269 Cyclamen
         469 Darning
1949 459 Ceramic Group
         646 Evening: Highgate Ponds
1950 102 Chloe
1951 118 Mimosa
         458 Apple Blossom
1952 101 Great Aunt Jane: aged three
1953 605 Cow Parsley
1954 319 Christmas Mantelpiece
1955 84 Studio Group with Tobacco Flowers
         557 The Bentwood Chair
1956 543 Tulipomania
1957 203 The Mother
         583 The Blue Jacket
1958 533 Tulips and Papier-mâché
         550 Mme. Gina Bachauer
         563 Dried Flowers
1959 353 The Windowsill
         357 The Peacock Curtain
         393 The Trafalgar Chair
1960 23 Dead Roses
         118 Convolvulus and Meadowsweet
         183 Mona Moore (Mrs. Tony Bentin)
1961 426 The Indian Curtain
         457 Tulipomania
1962 89 Albertine
1963 444 The White Foxglove
         498 Hyacinth and Helichryum
1964 391 Haygrass
1965 11 Dog Daisies
         29 Edinburgh Mantelpiece
         116 Dried Grass
1966 1305 Cyclamen
         1306 Tulipomania '65
1967 92 Dried Flowers
         611 January Table-top
         929 Pheasant Eye
1968 77 Red Rosé: Vintage '68
         1030 Blue Jug
1969 580 The White Enamel Jug
         692 Parrots and Delft
1970 116 The Delft Jug
         131 Ophelia
         141 Restful
1971 579 Cyclamen with Brown Tissue Paper
1972 476 Gilly Flowers
         899 Jackmanii and big Daisies
1973 57 Donkey with Hyacinths
         97 The Picasso Dove
1974 90 The Dark Cyclamen
         564 Old Roses
1975 388 Anemones
1976 1336 Spanish Cyclamen
1977 73 Table
         878 Grass and Dried Roses
1978 991 Vintage Trio
1979 1070 Donkey
         1132 The Card Player
1980 10 Paper and Dry Grasses
1981 600 Orford
1982 1236 TheEnamel Jug
1983 819 M.T. and Pheasant Eye
         1180 May Flowers
1984 871 Studio Cyclamen
         1383 Black and White
from Ellingham Mill, Bungay, Suffolk
1985 175 Cyclamen with Green Tissue Paper
1131 Old Roses from Claydon
1986 654 Rose Hips and Enamel Mug
1160 Self-portrait Shading Eyes
1987 1009 Frozen River
1988 990 Donkey with Bluebells
999 The Notice Board
1989 82 The Indian Scarf
962 Cyclamen and Newsprint
1991 83 Narcissus with Indian Curtain
1992 1076 Table Top
1081 The Chair
1993 855 Quinces
1994 1016 The Model’s Throne – oil
1996 1029 Old Roses – oil
2003 729 Spring Moon at Sea: the Aldeburgh Window - oil

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Works by This Artist