MARIAN FOUNTAIN
Born in New Zealand, and introduced to bronze casting at Elam School of Fine Arts, Fountain used a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council grant (1984) to travel to London, gaining experience at the Royal College of Art and the Red Bronze Studio. Moving next to Italy, she studied at the Rome Mint before settling in Paris in 1991.
Her work has been exhibited at the British Museum, National Gallery of Scotland, the Museo Archeologico of Milan, York Museum, Auckland Museum, and the French Mint. She has designed and made medals for the Commonwealth Games (1990), America’s Cup (2003), and for the Entente Cordiale (2004). She completed a series of 34 bas-reliefs for the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh Hospital, and in 2017, her 3.5m high bronze monument, The Earth Remembers (honouring the NZ tunnellers of Arras) was commissioned to mark the WWI centenary at the Carrière Wellington Museum, Arras, France.
JOHN DRAWBRIDGE MBE (1930-2005)
Drawbridge started as a textile designer, moved to prints, oils, watercolours and multimedia (all informed by his characteristic feeling for light and texture).
His work is held in some of the world’s most celebrated collections, among them the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. In a career spanning over 50 years, his sense of aesthetic, combined with his technical ability enabled him to create a challenging, exciting and varied body of work.
rAt a time when printmaking as a skill was at a low ebb, Drawbridge was introduced to mezzotint by Merlyn Evans. He developed his skills in Paris with Stanley William Hayter and Johnny Friedlander, and by frequenting Lacourière’s workshop where he watched the printing of Picasso, Braque and Chagall.
Figuratively Speaking includes a selection of Fountain’s medals, sculptures and bas-reliefs celebrating women. In a separate space, a small, recently released collection of signed Drawbridge figurative mezzotints are also on show.