#arthurletthaines

[cambsantiques]

In the shop: A large etching by Valerie Thornton (1931-1991) - Etruscan Landscape. £160. Framed and glazed. Valerie Thornton. Schooled in Charterhouse, before being evacuated with her two brothers to Montreal where she attended the Montreal Girl’s High School. After the war she returned to London where later, in 1949, she began her art studies at the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting then the Regent Street Polytechnic. It is during that period that she became attracted tothe work of Winifred Nicholson after receiving one of her paintings as a 21st birthday present. At that time too she became interested in architecture and in the works of one of the most original painters of the 20th century, Stanley Spencer (1891-1957) and the Romantic visionary painter Graham Sutherland (1903-1980). In 1954, Valerie spent eight months at Stanley William Hayter’s Atelier 17 in Paris, studying etching and engraving. On her return to England, the same year, she bought her first etching press but soon afterwards went on a six-week Grand Tour of Italy. During the 1950s she became acquainted with Cedric Morris and Lett-Haines at their Art School at Benton End. It was also there that she met the stained glass artist Rosemary Rutherford (1912-1972), who became a frequent travelling companion to Paris. She married Michael Chase. Thornton's work is included in a number of major public collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, the Tate and others. Thornton died in 1991 in Chelsworth, Suffolk. #bentonend #minories #essexartist #artintheeast #cedricmorris #kettlesyard #michaelchase #arthurletthaines #winifrednicholson (at Cambs Antiques Centre) https://www.instagram.com/p/CgPALXDoUU5/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#bentonend #minories #essexartist #artintheeast #cedricmorris #kettlesyard #michaelchase #arthurletthaines #winifrednicholson