Mystic
© estate of Frances Richards. All rights reserved, DACS 2024. Image credit: Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales

Mystic mid-20th C

Frances Richards (1903–1985)

Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales

Painter, notably in tempera, book illustrator, pottery designer and teacher. Born in Burslem, Staffordshire, she married the painter Ceri Richards in 1929. Studied at Burslem School of Art, then the Royal College of Art. She taught at Camberwell School of Art 1928–39 and Chelsea School of Art 1947–59. Her first one-man exhibition was at the Redfern Gallery in 1945, other venues being the Hanover Gallery, Leicester Galleries, the Oriel Fach Gallery at St Davids and Howard Roberts Gallery, Cardiff, as well as the Aldeburgh Festival. Many mixed shows, in Britain and France. Commissions include illus-trtions for Acts of the Apostles and The Book of Revelation and decoration for the P & O liner Orcades. The Tate Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum, Leicestershire and Hertfordshire Education Authorities hold her work.

Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)

Artworks by Frances Richards

  • Nun
    Nun Frances Richards (1903–1985)
    Carmarthen County Hall
  • Roses
    Roses Frances Richards (1903–1985)
    National Museum Cardiff
  • Metamorphosis
    Metamorphosis Frances Richards (1903–1985)
    Glynn Vivian Art Gallery
  • Mystic
    Mystic Frances Richards (1903–1985)
    National Museum Cardiff
  • Left and Right of the Long Path
    Left and Right of the Long Path Frances Richards (1903–1985)
    Tate

Find out more

Frances Richards (née Clayton) worked as a pottery designer for Paragon while studying at Burslem School of Art (1919–24), before winning a scholarship to the Royal College of Art (1924– 27) where she met Ceri Richards (whom she married in 1929).

Greatly influenced by Italian Renaissance painters, she specialised in tempera and fresco painting in her studies, and continued to work in tempera after leaving the college. During the 1930s she produced lithographs, and in 1931 provided twelve drawings for The Revelation of St. John the Divine.

In 1945, she held her first solo exhibition at the Redfern Gallery, where she exhibited again in 1949 and 1954. She also took part in shows at Hannover Gallery (1950), the Leicester Galleries (1964 and 1969), the Howard Roberts Gallery, and Holsworthy Gallery (1981).

A respected teacher, Richards held posts at Camberwell School of Art (1928–39) and later Chelsea School of Art (1947–59).

Biography from Liss Llewellyn

Venues

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