Ann Finlayson

Ann Finlayson (6 November 1941 - 10 June 1999) was an English painter, draughtsperson and teacher. She worked as an assistant to Bridget Riley and Peter Sedgley from 1969 to 1971. She was best known for her abstract watercolours.

Personal life and education

Ann Elizabeth Finlayson was born in Glasgow, the daughter of artist Helen Hay. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art in 1960, the Kingston School of Art from 1960 to 1964 and the Royal College of Art from 1965 to 1968. She won the E. Q. Henriques gift at the Royal College of Art in 1968 and the Daler-Rowney watercolour award at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1984. She married ceramicist John Barham Adams in Surrey, England in 1995.

Art career

Finlayson worked as an assistant to Bridget Riley and Peter Sedgley between 1969 and 1971. She worked as an assistant to Alistair Grant in 1971 and assisted Leonard Rosoman with large scale murals from 1972 to 1974. She worked as an assistant to Ken Baynes, an exhibition consultant for the Welsh Arts Council, from 1972 to 1976.

Solo exhibitions

1969 – New Art Centre, Sloane Street

1975 – Triad Gallery

1976 – Oxford Gallery, London

1982 – Stirling Gallery

1985 – Adam Gallery, London

1997 – Thornton Bevan Arts, London

Group exhibitions

1985 – ''Artists Against Apartheid''

1994 – London Guildhall University

1974 – Oxford Gallery

2019 – “Works on paper” Trent Art Gallery, Newcastle Under Lyme

Royal Academy Summer exhibitions

Finlayson had the following works selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition:

1970: ''Exploding Rectangle''

1972: ''Maze'', ''Release'' and ''Volcano''

1973: ''Silent Spaces'', ''Bands of Time'' and ''Metamorphosis''

1974: ''Black Diamond Vortex''

1975: ''Wind'' and ''Reflection''

1976: ''Waves''

1980: ''Tapestry''

1981: ''Pools''

1982: ''Sunlit Flower'' and ''Tulip''

1983: ''Four Objects''

1984: ''Sea Edge'' and ''Sea Horizon''

1985: ''Window 1''

1987: ''The Child is Mother of the Woman'' (ink, charcoal, pastel)

Collections

Her work is held privately and in the following public collections:
* Bolton Museum of Art
* Bank of Boston, London
* Glyndebourne Opera House
* Hamilton Education Centre, Scotland

Teaching

* 1970 – 1971: Exeter College of Art and Design, visiting lecturer
* 1971 – 1972: Vauxhall Manor Secondary School
* 1976 – 1978: City and Guilds of London Art School, part-time lecturer
* 1976 – 1990: Kingston Polytechnic
* 1978 – 1984: Berkshire College of Art
* 1984 – 1985: London Guildhall University(Sir John Cass)

Illness and death

Adams was diagnosed with multi-system atrophy, similar to Parkinson's disease, in 1995. She was told she had between five and ten years to live. Unable to create art and finding it “difficult to come to terms with her illness” she committed suicide on 10 June 1999, age 57. Together with a suicide note, she left “literature about voluntary euthanasia.” Following her death, Finlayson's husband lodged a formal complaint with the government, calling for a “radical improvement in arrangements between police detectives, officers and surgeons” in order to reduce stress on the bereaved.

References

External links

TrentArt
– for a selection of Finlayson's watercolours

''The Life and Paintings of Ann Finlayson 1943 to 1999'' narrated by Finlayson’s stepdaughter

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finlayson, Ann
1941 births
1991 deaths
20th-century English women artists
English women painters
Artists from Glasgow
Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art
Alumni of Kingston University
Alumni of the Royal College of Art
Artists who died by suicide