Mary Fedden, R.A.

London, Royal Academy, Summer Exhibition, 1997, cat. no.603, illustrated p.54.

Original canvas. The canvas appears sound. There is some light frame abrasion apparent at the centre of the upper and lower horizontal edges, only visible upon close inspection. There is some surface dirt across the work. There are a few lines of very light craquelure in places, only visible upon extremely close inspection. Subject to the above the work appears to be in excellent overall condition. Ultraviolet light reveals no obvious signs of fluorescence or retouching. The work is presented in a painted simple wooden frame. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
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'... My things are not trying to be more real, they're trying to be less real than they really are ... I would rather transform the things I look at, using apples (or whatever) as a starting point to make the picture that I want to make ... (Sometimes my apples come out looking looking extraordinarily like apples, when I haven't perhaps meant them to) ... But without some things, like a rose, an apple, a saucer, a shell, before me - not all things will end up in the picture, but one or two of the real things - I feel rather lost: I like to have an object there, and then I can transform it into something else ... If they turn out to be the very thing I'm looking at then it is a failed painting for me - a photograph would do as well. And yet I cannot do without a teapot and a lemon ... Though I have looked at teapots and lemons so often.' (Mary Fedden, quoted in Mel Gooding, Mary Fedden, Scholar Press, Aldershot, 1995, p.41)