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Painter, often of bizarre, Surrealist pictures, born in London as Meraud Michael (a name used to sign pictures) Guinness into a wealthy family. She was a 1920s bright young thing who married the Chilean artist Alvaro Guevara in 1929, having a long and stormy relationship with him. She studied at Slade School of Fine Art under Henry Tonks intermittently, 1923–7. Had a solo show in Paris in 1928, her teacher there being Francis Picabia. She was a member of a set including Christopher Wood, whom she almost married, Gertrude Stein, Nancy Cunard and Lord Berners. In 1940 she had a show at Valentine Gallery in New York. Winston Churchill owned Alvaro’s portrait of Meraud. After Alvaro died in 1951 Meraud supervised his estate and arranged for his writings to be published and memorial shows to be held.

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


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