Freda Nellie Skinner (31 January 1911 – 19 July 1993) was a British sculptor and woodcarver who was head of sculpture at Wimbledon School of Art from 1945 to 1971. Skinner was born in

Warlingham Warlingham is a village in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England, south of the centre of London and east of the county town, Guildford. Warlingham is the centre of a civil parish that includes Hamsey Green, a contiguous, smaller sett ...

, Surrey, where her father, Norman, had a farm; she showed an early interest in art at age 11 with a pair of paintings of a prized Champion Devon Red bull and a cow. She studied under Henry Moore and Alan Durst at The Royal College of Art, her course fees being met, in part, by neighbours including Ethel and

Sybil Pye Sybil Pye (18 November 1879 – 1958) was a self-trained British bookbinder famous for her distinctive inlay Art Deco leather bindings. She was, along with Katharine Adams and Sarah Prideaux, one of the most famous women bookbinders of their per ...

. She then went on to teach toy making and sculpture at

Kingston School of Art The Kingston School of Art (KSA) is an art school in Kingston upon Thames, part of Kingston University London. It was first established in 1899 as the Kingston School of Science and Art. In 1930 it was established as a separate school and has b ...

, and was head of sculpture at Wimbledon School of Art 1945 to 1971. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors and a member of the Society of Portrait Sculptors. Her 1972 sculpture ''Virgin and Child'' is in the Lady Chapel of St Elphege's Church, Wallington, south London. She also carved the foundation stone for the

Barbican Art Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts center, performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film s ...

in central London, in 1972. She exhibited at the

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition The Summer Exhibition is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the months of June, July, and August. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, s ...

six times, and also at the Architects Association, Holland Park Orangery,

Mall Galleries Mall commonly refers to a: * Shopping mall * Strip mall * Pedestrian street * Esplanade Mall or MALL may also refer to: Places Shopping complexes * The Mall (Sofia) (Tsarigradsko Mall), Sofia, Bulgaria * The Mall, Patna, Patna, Bihar, India * ...

The London Group The London Group is a society based in London, England, created to offer additional exhibiting opportunities to artists besides the Royal Academy of Arts. Formed in 1913, it is one of the oldest artist-led organisations in the world. It was for ...

, Suffolk Galleries, Bruton Street Gallery and Wykeham Galleries. In 1993 there was a retrospective exhibition of her work at the Bruton Street Gallery in central London. Two of her jigsaw works for

Abbatt Toys Abbatt is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Agnes Dean Abbatt (1847–1917), American artist * Jonathan Abbatt, Canadian chemist * Marjorie Abbatt Marjorie Abbatt, née Norah Marjorie Cobb (18 March 1899 – 10 November 1991 ...

are held in the V&A. In 1944 she was recorded living at The Ivy House, French Street, Sunbury-on-Thames, then at 35 Deodar Road,

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

, from the late 1940s to about 1981. She moved to Amesbury in Wiltshire in 1981 and died in West Amesbury, Wiltshire on 19 July 1993.

Gallery

File:Dulwich, St Thomas More Church, Madonna and Child.jpg, Madonna and Child File:Richmond, St John the Divine, Stations of the Cross XII.jpg, Stations of the Cross XII, St John the Divine File:Roundwood Park, The Spirit of Youth by Freda Skinner (1).jpg, The Spirit of Youth File:St. Mary's Church, Battersea, Parish war memorial.jpg, War memorial, Battersea

Works exhibited at the Royal Academy

Selected works

Bibliography

*''Woodcarving'' (1961) New York: Sterling Pub. Co

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skinner, Freda 1911 births 1993 deaths 20th-century British sculptors British women sculptors Alumni of the Royal College of Art Academics of Wimbledon College of Arts People from Surrey