Rachel Mary Owen (30 November 1968 – 18 December 2016) was a Welsh photographer, printmaker and lecturer on medieval Italian literature. She was married to

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

singer

Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been describe ...

Life and career

Owen was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales. She received a B.A. (Hons) in Italian and Fine Art (Painting), specialising in Printmaking, from the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...

. In the 1990s, she lived in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

with two students and studied painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Florence, where she fell in love with Dante's work. In 2001, Owen received a PhD from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, where her research was on the illustrations in manuscripts of

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

's ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

''. Owen was a lecturer in Italian with a focus on medieval Italian literature, where she examined illustration and its reception in Dante's ''Divine Comedy.'' She taught art history and Dante studies for visiting students at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. She was also a fine-art printmaker, and a member of the Oxford Printmakers Co-operative. She mixed photography with printmaking and her work explored ideas of transformation using photographic screenprints. Her artwork was used on the cover of the 1993

single "

Pop Is Dead "Pop Is Dead" is a song by the British alternative rock band Radiohead. It was released as a non-album single on 10 May 1993, several months after their debut album ''Pablo Honey''. It reached number 42 on the UK Singles Chart. It was included in ...

"''.''

Personal life

For 23 years, Owen was in a relationship with

singer

, whom she met while they were students at the

. She and Yorke had a son born in 2001, named Noah, and a daughter born in 2004, named Agnes. Owen influenced the lyrics of Radiohead songs such as "I Might Be Wrong" and "Optimistic". In 2012, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' reported that Owen and Yorke were not married. However, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' later found that they had married in a secret ceremony in Oxfordshire in May 2003. In August 2015, the couple announced they had separated amicably "after 23 highly creative and happy years". Several critics believed the separation influenced the lyrics of Radiohead's 2016 album ''

A Moon Shaped Pool ''A Moon Shaped Pool'' is the ninth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was released digitally on 8 May 2016, and physically on 17 June 2016 through XL Recordings. It was produced by Radiohead's longtime producer Nigel Godrich. ...

''.

Death

Owen died of cancer on 18 December 2016 at the age of 48. She continued to teach Italian into her final months. Radiohead dedicated the 2017 '' OKNOTOK'' reissue of their 1997 album ''

OK Computer ''OK Computer'' is the third studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released in Japan on 21 May 1997 and in the UK on 16 June 1997. Radiohead self-produced the album with Nigel Godrich, an arrangement they have used for their subsequ ...

'' to her memory.

Works

Books

*''Rachel Owen: Illustrations for Dante's 'Inferno'''. Oxford:

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

, 2021. Edited by David Bowe. .

Exhibitions

* 2015: Ballon Rouge Art,

Thame Thame is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of the city of Oxford and southwest of Aylesbury. It derives its name from the River Thame which flows along the north side of the town and forms part of the county border wi ...

, Oxfordshire, England, 7–15 November 2015

Papers

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Owen, Rachel 1968 births 2016 deaths 20th-century Welsh women artists 21st-century Welsh women artists Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London Alumni of the University of Exeter Artists from Cardiff British printmakers Deaths from cancer in England Welsh women photographers Women printmakers