TOM FAIRS

‘Still Life - with oranges’

by TOM FAIRS, 1925-2007

Oil pastel on paper, signed.  Original exhibition label verso.

Tom Fairs conformed to the original model of artist recluse.. he left school at 15 and his experience in art began at the Hornsey School of Art evening classes.  By 1948 he had successfully enrolled as a full time student in fine art and stained glass design - going on to gain technical skills at the Royal College  of Art. He worked with Geoffrey Clarke creating the new nave windows at Coventry Cathedral, then taught at the Central School of Art and Design up to 1987.  His hero was Pierre Bonnard and his quick - seeming random strokes in painting go to build intense interiors and still life - invested with vigour and edginess;  he was said to love the ‘transformative’ in painting.

Fairs had submitted work selected every year for the Royal Academy. Very few can match this….