Original Oil on Canvas 'Valerie B' by Ann Spalding (1911-2013) Signed c.1960

Fine quality portrait of a girl called Valerie Beanland, The painting is on canvas that has never been stretched. Provenance; Purchased by me from Ann Spaldings studio. Born in London. Studied at the Ruskin school of drawing in Oxford 1929-1933 where here tutors included Eric Ravilious, Barnett Freeman and Albert Rutherston in 1939 she moved to London, but was soon recalled to Oxford to help look after her parent’s large house and their lodgers, who included the writer Charles Williams and the sociologist Barbara Ward. Here she came into contact with the Oxford Pilgrim players, co-founded by her sister Ruth, who claimed to perform ‘Anytime, anywhere’ and this instilled in her a lifetime love of the theatre. She continued her studies at the Ruskin in order to learn lithography. in 1949 her first solo exhibition was held at the Paul Alexander Gallery, London. Since then her work has been exhibited in major London galleries. Bibliography “Anne Spalding” (Sally Hunter Fine Art, London 1988).