June Furlong (3 June 1930 – 20 November 2020) was a model at the Liverpool College of Art and Design,

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

and the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

for 50 years. She also organised art exhibitions.

Personal life

Furlong was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

on 3 June 1930. She was with her parents at their home in Falkner Street during the Second World War when an incendiary bomb landed on in the house, with the fire fortunately extinguished by the parents. Furlong died on 20 November 2020, at the age of 90.

Modelling career

Furlong started modelling in 1947 when she was 17 and continued until she was 65. Most of her career was at the Liverpool School of Art, but in the 1950s she was in London for 5 years, modelling at the

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

and the

. As a consequence she is the subject of artwork by artists such as

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...

Frank Auerbach Frank Helmut Auerbach (born 29 April 1931) is a German-British painter. Born in Germany, he has been a naturalised British subject since 1947. He is considered one of the leading names in the School of London, with fellow artists Francis Bacon ...

, Stanley Reed, Mike Hatjoullis,

Josh Kirby Ronald William "Josh" Kirby (27 November 1928 – 23 October 2001) was a British commercial artist. Over a career spanning 60 years, he was the artist for the covers of many science fiction books including Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. ...

, George W. Jardine,

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

, and indeed almost all those who were art students in Liverpool between the 1960s and early 1990s.

Exhibitions

She organised an exhibition of the work of Josh Kirby at the Albert Dock, Liverpool, in 1988 and was co-organiser of an exhibition of work by George W. Jardine in 2012 at the Liverpool Academy of Art. An exhibition of portraits of Furlong was held to celebrate her 90th birthday in June 2020 at the

Williamson Art Gallery and Museum The Williamson Art Gallery and Museum is an art gallery and museum situated in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England and houses Wirral's art collection. History The art gallery and museum opened on 1 December 1928, the single-storey building is Neo-G ...

, Birkenhead.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Furlong, June People from Liverpool English artists' models 1930 births 20th-century English women 20th-century English people 2020 deaths People associated with Liverpool John Moores University People associated with the Royal College of Art