Theresa Courtenay "Tessa" Beaver (née Theobald; 30 March 1932 – 9 May 2018) was a British printmaker, painter and illustrator.

Early life

Beaver was born in Hampstead, London in 1932, the first of five children of Virginia (nee Virginia Maxwell Ayrton, daughter of

Maxwell Ayrton Ormrod Maxwell Ayrton FRIBA (1874 – 18 February 1960), known as Maxwell Ayrton, was an English architect. He spent most of his adult life working in London and designed houses, public buildings, and bridges. Early life Maxwell Ayrton wa ...

) and Courtenay Theobald, the architect (Maxwell Ayrton's practice partner, as well as son-in-law). The Ayrton family originated in Yorkshire, though Tessa Theobald descended from a branch long-resident in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. Her forebear

Edward Ayrton Edward Russell Ayrton (17 December 1882 – 18 May 1914) was an English Egyptologist and archaeologist. Early life Ayrton was the son of William Scrope Ayrton (1849-1904), a British consular official in China, and his wife Ellen Louisa McClatch ...

was mayor of

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city ...

in 1760, and laid the foundations for the family's subsequent prominence. Beaver studied at the

Slade School of 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 ...

, achieving her Diploma in Fine Art in 1953. She studied etching for a year afterwards with John Buckland-Wright.

Career

Her career began, under her birth name of Tessa Theobald, as an illustrator and designer of book jackets. She became the art editor of children's books at

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

and later at Thomas Nelson. She is also known for her painting and

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

. Following her marriage to Harold Beaver, the couple took up a post in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. There, she travelled extensively around the country, developing her knowledge of woodblock printing. On her return to UK, she taught printmaking at Mid-Warwickshire College. In 1989 she was commissioned to create a set of prints to mark Birmingham's centenary. In 2014 a large exhibition of her work at

Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum The Royal Pump Rooms is a cultural centre on the Parade in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England. It was the most famous of several spa baths opened in Leamington between the late-18th and mid-19th centuries. People would travel from througho ...

was accompanied by major monograph on her work ''My Craft or Sullen Art'' (). She exhibited at international exhibitions of printmaking in Brazil, China, Poland, Italy and Netherlands. Beaver's prints have been shown at the

Society of Wood Engravers The Society of Wood Engravers (SWE) is a UK-based artists’ exhibiting society, formed in 1920, one of its founder-members being Eric Gill. It was originally restricted to artist-engravers printing with oil-based inks in a press, distinct from ...

, the

Royal Society of Painters, Etchers and Engravers The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE), known until 1991 as the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, is a leading art institution based in London, England. The Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, as it was originally styled, was ...

, 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, sc ...

s. She has held solo shows at the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

, the Lantern Gallery in Manchester, St. Michael's Gallery in Derby, the Quadrangle Gallery in Oxford and the Mignon Gallery in Bath. She was a prize winner at the 5th Seoul International Print Biennale in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

Personal life

She married Harold Beaver on 12 October 1957. She lived in

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...

and died on 9 May 2018.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beaver, Tessa 1932 births 2018 deaths 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art English women painters Artists from Hampstead