Ursula Mary Fookes (27 June 1906 St. John's Wood, London - 1991 Blakeney,

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

) was an English painter and

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...

, who worked in colour

linocut Linocut, also known as lino print, lino printing or linoleum art, is a printmaking technique, a variant of woodcut in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for a relief surface. A design is cut into the linoleum s ...

and painted in oils and watercolours. Fookes studied at the

Grosvenor School of Modern Art The Grosvenor School of Modern Art was a private British art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and ...

from 1929 to 1931, under

Claude Flight Walter Claude Flight (born London 16 February 1881 - died Donhead St Andrew 10 October 1955) also known as Claude Flight or W. Claude Flight was a British artist who pioneered and popularised the linoleum cut technique. He also painted, illustrated ...

. She exhibited in the annual British Linocut exhibitions at the Redfern and Ward Galleries in the 1930s, and also showed her work with the

Society of Women Artists The Society of Women Artists (SWA) is a British art body dedicated to celebrating and promoting fine art created by women. It was founded as the Society of Female Artists (SFA) in about 1855, offering women artists the opportunity to exhibit and ...

and the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and a ...

. Also during the 1930s Fookes painted and travelled abroad, often with the artist Pauline Logan, who shared a studio with her in

Pimlico Pimlico () is an area of Central London in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by London V ...

. In 1939, Fookes moved to Hampshire where she did war work before travelling to Europe in 1945 to spend a year running a mobile canteen for troops. The

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

in London holds the diary she kept during that time. She retired to

Wiveton Wiveton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the west bank of the River Glaven, inland from the coast and directly across the river from the village of Cley next the Sea. The larger village of Blaken ...

in North Norfolk. In Norfolk she developed a keen interest in bird-watching and her output as an artist greatly diminished but interest in her work revived after her death. Examples of her work are held by the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

Exhibitions

* 2010 "Emerging Images: The Creative Process in Prints", International Print Center New York http://www.artslant.com/ny/events/show/125187-emerging-images-the-creative-process-in-prints

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fookes, Ursula 1906 births 1991 deaths 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists Alumni of the Grosvenor School of Modern Art Artists from London English printmakers People from St John's Wood People from North Norfolk (district) British women printmakers