{{short description|British painter}} {{About|the British artist (1916-2016)|the Australian artist (1842-1929)|Margaret Thomas|other people named Margaret Thomas|Margaret Thomas (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} {{Infobox artist | name = Margaret Thomas | image = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1916|9|26|df=y}} | birth_place = London, United Kingdom | death_date = {{death date and age|2016|3|27|1916|9|26|df=y}} | death_place = | education = {{ubl|Sidcup School of Art|Slade School of Fine Art| Royal Academy Schools}} | field = [[Painting]] | training = | movement = | works = | patrons = | awards = | spouse = | partner = }}
'''Margaret Thomas''' (26 September 1916 – 27 March 2016) was a British painter. She is remembered in particular for her [[still life]]s and her flower paintings which received considerable acclaim, and are in numerous UK public collections.
== Career == <!-- Note that long quotes not directly connected to the text are discouraged. --> {{Blockquote|It is probably in the still life with flowers, an inexhaustible subject for her that Margaret Thomas is best known....she sometimes finds unexpected beauty at the point when most people would consign the flowers to the dustbin; a faded or drooping plant can have its own sad charm. She is able to paint, with apparently casual directness, pictures that are strongly and visually designed, partly because she is lucky enough to have been trained at a time before art schools gave up drawing.|source=[[Bernard Dunstan]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thompsonsgallery.co.uk/artist.php/Margaret-Thomas-461/|title=Margaret Thomas, Biography|website=Thompson's Galleries}}</ref>}}
Thomas was born in London, England on 26 September 1916. When she was 12 years old she was introduced to [[Ethel Walker]], and other women artists, by her governess. Thomas would later exhibit pieces in the same shows as Walker.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|title=New English Art Club|last=From our London Art Critic|date=29 March 1951|work=The Guardian}}</ref> In 1934 Thomas began her studies at Sidcup School of Art.<ref name="BuckmanVol2">{{cite book|author=David Buckman|publisher=Art Dictionaries Ltd|year=2006|title=Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 2, M to Z |isbn=0-953260-95-X}}</ref> She continued, having won a scholarship, at the [[Slade School of Fine Art]] in London.<ref name="SGray">{{cite book|author=Sara Gray|publisher=The Lutterworth Press|year=2009|title=The Dictionary of British Women Artists|isbn=97807-18830847}}</ref> For her final year, she studied at the [[Royal Academy Schools]] under [[Walter Thomas Monnington|Thomas Monnington]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://orielfineart.co.uk/margaret-thomas|title=MARGARET THOMAS 1916 - 2016 R.B.A., R.W.A., N.E.A.C|website=Oriel Fine Art|access-date=23 Jan 2020}}</ref> and Ernest Jackson.<ref name="Suffolk Artists"/><ref name="BuckmanVol2"/> Her works were being noticed as early as 1938: commenting on an exhibition of The Women Artists, [[The Observer]] noted that "most of the outstanding pieces are contributed by the non-members such as ... 'Flu' by Margaret Thomas ..."<ref>{{Cite news|title=The Women Artists|date=26 June 1938|work=The Observer}}</ref>
During World War II the Royal Academy Schools closed and Thomas moved to the [[Wiltshire]] countryside. She was inspired by nature, "I frequently return to the motif of a dying flower; I draw endless inspiration from these spiky, spectral and sculptural presences. When picked, flowers must be left alone to fulfil their destinies, to orientate to the light, to sort out their relative strengths, to stabilise and mature. They cannot be arranged. All this I seek to show in my paintings."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/artist/margaret-thomas-rba|title=Margaret Thomas RBA|website=Mall Galleries|access-date=23 Jan 2020}}</ref>
After the war Thomas built up a career with portrait commissions and solo exhibitions. Her first painting to be exhibited at the [[Royal Academy Summer Exhibition]] was ''Still Life of Norfolk Ham'' in 1943.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.royalsocietyofbritishartists.org.uk/artist/margaret-thomas/|title=Margaret Thomas Sen.RBA NEAC|website=Royal Society of British Artists|access-date=23 Jan 2020}}</ref> She went on to exhibit at the Royal Academy for another 46 consecutive years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com/2015/12/Margaret-Thomas.html|title=Margaret Thomas, 1916: Abstract / Still life painter|website=Tutt'Art|access-date=23 Jan 2020}}</ref> In 1947 she was elected a member of the [[Royal Society of British Artists]], R.B.A.<ref name="SGray"/> Her first solo exhibition was at the [[Leicester Galleries]], London in 1949.<ref name="Spalding">{{cite book|author=[[Frances Spalding]]|publisher=Antique Collectors' Club|year=1990|title=20th Century Painters and Sculptors |isbn=1-85149-106-6}}</ref> Her work was "in a manner all of her own," exploring "the tonal subtleties of oil paint in various ways"<ref>{{Cite news|title=Women Painters|date=18 Jan 1950|work=The Guardian}}</ref> and she arranged 'her flowers and still-life with unerring good taste.'<ref>{{Cite news|title=Three Galleries: Six Artists|last=From our London Art Critic|date=7 Oct 1950|work=The Guardian}}</ref> In 1950 she was elected a member of the [[New English Art Club]] and in 1951 became a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Arts]].<ref name="SGray"/> At an exhibition of sixteen painters at the R.B.A. Galleries in 1956 she was noted to have the most interesting pictures and that her larger pictures showed a 'remarkably subtle exact sense of tone and colour.'<ref>{{Cite news|title=Sixteen Painters: Exhibition at R.B.A. Galleries|last=Bone|first=Stephen|date=16 Sep 1953|work=The Guardian}}</ref>
Thomas showed in countless group exhibitions including: the New English Art Club; Royal Society of British Artists; [[Royal West of England Academy]]; [[Royal Scottish Academy]]; [[Women's International Art Club]]; [[Scottish Society of Women Artists]]; and, Aldeburgh 100.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chappelgalleries.co.uk/exhibitions-05/julie-noad/julie-noad.htm|title=MARGARET THOMAS and JULIE NOAD: An Interior View - Oils|website=Chappel Galleries Fine Art|access-date=23 Jan 2020}}</ref><ref name="Spalding"/> Thomas was a stalwart of the Women's International Art Club.<ref>{{Cite news|title=A merely masculine assessment...|last=Johnson|first=W.E|date=26 Jun 1961|work=The Guardian}}</ref>
Thomas worked in London for many years and also maintained a second studio in Edinburgh from 1956.<ref name="BuckmanVol2"/> In 1984 she moved to a converted watermill in Ellingham, near [[Bungay]] in [[Suffolk]].<ref name="BuckmanVol2"/> She died just before her 100th birthday on 27 March 2016.<ref name="Suffolk Artists">{{cite web |title=Thomas, Margaret |url=https://suffolkartists.co.uk/index.cgi?choice=painter&pid=1862 |website=Suffolk Artists |access-date=25 January 2020}}</ref>
== Awards == * 1971: De Lazlo Medal, Royal Society of British Artists * 1981: [[Hunting Art Prize|Hunting Group Award]], Oil Painting of the Year for ''The Rembrandt Drawing''<ref name="hunting">{{cite book |title=The Hunting Art Prizes: 1981-2005 |date=2005 |publisher=Hunting Group |pages=16–17 |url=https://www.huntingplc.com/~/media/Files/H/Hunting-PLC-V2/documents/25-catalouge.pdf |access-date=25 January 2020 |chapter=Margaret Thomas RWA RBA NEAC}}</ref> * 1996: De Lazlo Medal, Royal Society of British Artists
== Collections == Her works are included in many UK public and private collections, including the following: [[Government Art Collection]], [[Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art]], [[Guildhall Art Gallery]], [[Ferens Art Gallery]], [[National Museum Wales]] (Outreach Collection), [[National Library of Wales]], [[Royal West of England Academy]], [[Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge]], [[Charleston Farmhouse]], [[Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery]], [[Williamson Art Gallery and Museum]], [[Paisley Museum and Art Galleries]], [[Gregynog Hall]], [[Greenway Estate]] (National Trust), [[Arts Council England]] Collection, [[City Art Centre]] (Edindurgh Council), [[Ingram Collection of Modern British Art]], Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery ([[University of Leeds]]), and [[Paintings in Hospitals]].<ref>[https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/search/actor:thomas-margaret-19162016 "Margaret Thomas"], [[Art UK]].</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == *{{Art UK bio}} *[http://www.artnet.com/artists/margaret-thomas/3 Works by Margaret Thomas on Artnet]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Margaret}} [[Category:1916 births]] [[Category:2016 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century English painters]] [[Category:21st-century English painters]] [[Category:21st-century English women artists]] [[Category:Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art]] [[Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy Schools]] [[Category:Painters from London]] [[Category:21st-century British women painters]] [[Category:20th-century English women painters]]