Oscar Mellor (7 June 1921 – 2005) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

and publisher of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

. An associate of the

Birmingham Surrealists The Birmingham Surrealists were an informal grouping of artists and intellectuals associated with the Surrealist movement in art, based in Birmingham, England from the 1930s to the 1950s. The key figures were the artists Conroy Maddox and John Me ...

in the 1940s, he founded the

Fantasy Press Fantasy Press was an American publishing house specialising in fantasy and science fiction titles. Established in 1946 by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach in Reading, Pennsylvania, it was most notable for publishing the works of authors such as Robert A. Hei ...

in the 1950s, publishing works by poets such as

Philip Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, '' The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, '' Jill'' (1946) and '' A Girl in Winter'' (1 ...

Kingsley Amis Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social an ...

and

Thom Gunn Thomson William "Thom" Gunn (29 August 1929 – 25 April 2004) was an English poet who was praised for his early verses in England, where he was associated with The Movement, and his later poetry in America, even after moving towards a looser, ...

.. Although he became best known as a publisher, he saw himself primarily as an artist whose business activities existed to support his painting.

Biography

Oscar Mellor was born and educated in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, moving to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

with his family in 1939 and serving in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He had been painting

watercolours Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

from the age of 15, but took up painting more seriously on returning from the war in 1946, studying part-time at the

Birmingham School of Art The Birmingham School of Art was a municipal art school based in the centre of Birmingham, England. Although the organisation was absorbed by Birmingham Polytechnic in 1971 and is now part of Birmingham City University's Faculty of Arts, Design a ...

and the

Ruskin School The Ruskin School of Art, known as the Ruskin, is an art school at the University of Oxford, England. It is part of Oxford's Humanities Division. History The Ruskin grew out the Oxford School of Art, which was founded in 1865 and later became ...

and becoming an associate of

Conroy Maddox Conroy Maddox (27 December 1912 – 14 January 2005) was an English surrealist painter, collagist, writer and lecturer; and a key figure in the Birmingham Surrealist movement.Morris, Desmond (2018), ''The Lives of the Surrealists''. He wa ...

and the

.. In 1947 he was a founder member of the Birmingham Artists Committee - which existed to organise exhibitions of avant-garde artists ignored by the conservative

Royal Birmingham Society of Artists The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists or RBSA is an art society, based in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, England, where it owns and operates an art gallery, the RBSA Gallery, on Brook Street, just off St Paul's Square. It is both a re ...

- exhibiting with them alongside artists such as

John Melville John William Melville (25 August 1902 – 8 December 1986) was a self-taught British Surrealist painter. He is described by Michel Remy in his book ''Surrealism in Britain'' as one of the "harbingers of surrealism" in Great Britain. He was, a ...

William Gear William Gear RA RBSA (2 August 1915 – 27 February 1997) was a Scottish painter, most notable for his abstract compositions. Early life Gear was born in Methil in south-east Fife, Scotland, the son of Janet (1886-1955) and Porteous Gear ...

Emmy Bridgwater Emma Frith Bridgwater (10 November 1906 – 13 March 1999),. known as Emmy Bridgwater, was an English artist and poet associated with the Surrealist movement. Based at times in both Birmingham and London, she was a significant member of the Bir ...

and

Desmond Morris Desmond John Morris FLS ''hon. caus.'' (born 24 January 1928) is an English zoologist, ethologist and surrealist painter, as well as a popular author in human sociobiology. He is known for his 1967 book ''The Naked Ape'', and for his televisi ...

between 1947 and 1951. Moving to

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1948 to continue his studies at The Ruskin, he briefly went into business with Conroy Maddox before establishing himself as a publisher and photographer in

Swinford, Oxfordshire Swinford in the English county of Oxfordshire is a hamlet in the civil parish of Cumnor. It lies on the road between Eynsham and Farmoor (B4044) on the south bank of the River Thames. The Swinford Toll Bridge carrying the B4044 crosses the River ...

, founding the

in 1951 and producing regular photographic work for

Oxford Playhouse Oxford Playhouse is a theatre designed by Edward Maufe and F.G.M. Chancellor. It is situated in Beaumont Street, Oxford, opposite the Ashmolean Museum. History The Playhouse was founded as ''The Red Barn'' at 12 Woodstock Road, North Oxfor ...

. From 1969 until 1973 he was a lecturer in photography at Exeter College of Art, after which he returned full-time to paintingThe Eynsham Record, Number 19, 2002
"Oscar Mellor, Printer & Artist", p34 until shortly before his death in 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mellor, Oscar British surrealist artists 20th-century English painters English male painters 21st-century English painters British book publishers (people) 1921 births 2005 deaths Alumni of the Birmingham School of Art 20th-century English male artists 21st-century English male artists