Olwen Tarrant R.O.I.
ARTIST: Olwen Tarrant ROI (1927-2012) Welsh
TITLE: “Mallorca Spanish Landscape
SIGNED: lower left
MEDIUM: oil on canvas
SIZE: 122cm x 95cm inc frame
CONDITION: excellent
PRICE: £sold
DETAIL: Olwen Tarrant’s art career seemed a long way off when she left Newport High School in South Wales, as there were few opportunities for women in those days. She joined an art club in Essex before enrolling in the Sir John Cass College of Art in London. She (1927-2012) won her first prize while still at Art College in London; a painting of the 7.32am commuter train into Liverpool Street station. The judge was Sir Charles Wheeler, former President of the Royal Academy, who prophesied a successful career for Olwen and bought her painting for his own collection.
It was the first of several prizes and awards for Olwen at both painting and sculpture, including the Alan Gourley, Cornelissen and Llewellyn Alexander award and the A & K Wilson award at the ROI Annual Exhibition in 2007. She appeared on radio and television, wrote many articles for art magazines, and her paintings and drawings have appeared in numerous art text books. She lectured and demonstrated on painting and sculpture in many parts of the country and she exhibited regularly in London and top galleries around the country.Asked about her work, Olwen stated: “like all artists I am always striving to show how I perceive the world around me; endeavouring to do this to my own satisfaction and never quite reaching the goals I set for myself. In my Mediterranean paintings I try to convey the excitement of the sunlight dancing over the landscape. Still life subjects are always a challenge to me. I want to show on my canvas the feeling of pleasure it gives me to catch a glimpse of a group of objects, which shows quite unexpectedly an arrangement of colours, shapes and textures. I like to do figures from memory in my paintings.”
Olwen’s studio overlooked the famous Malvern Hills, in Worcestershire, less than a mile from where Elgar lived for much of his life. “I love Elgar’s music and it is wonderful to listen to it at home looking at the scene which inspired him: I think, in a very modest way, that it inspires me, too”.It is perhaps no coincidence that many of her award-winning paintings have had hills and mountains in the background. For much of the summer, she lived in Puerto Pollensa in the north of Mallorca and here again her studio looked onto a mountain range reminding her of her native Wales, but without the rain. She loved the sun, light and colours in the Mallorcan villages and relaxed (a term used loosely, she said) by sailing on the Mediterranean. The paintings of Olwen Tarrant are instantly recognisable, whether they are landscapes, still life subjects, figures or work from the imagination. She was a painter who loved colour. “Colour expresses mood, colour excites me and makes me want to record my feelings on canvas. Sound plays a part too. The wind in the trees, the birds, village voices greeting each other, a busker playing his guitar in the square. I am lucky to have been trained at a college of art, which equipped me with the knowledge and experience I needed to be able to put all of this on to my canvas. I may be in my studio or in a crowded square, but I am in a world of my own experiencing what I am painting on my canvas; a part of it.”
Olwen exhibited her work in galleries in London and throughout the country, including the Mall Galleries, the home of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (R.O.I.), of which she is now a Fellow. Olwen was President of the R.O.I. for five years and is the only woman to be elected to the post in its 125-year old history. She was immensely proud of her five years as president of the institute, and welcomed many members of the royal family and prominent personalities to its headquarters at the Mall Gallery. Among those she met were Betty Boothroyd, the first woman speaker in the House of Commons, former minister Anne Widdecombe, MI5 boss Stella Rimington, detective novelist P D James, and actresses Maureen Lipman and June Whitfield.
More Olwen Tarrant paintings wanted. If you have pictures to sell then please contact the gallery.
