Ann Finlayson
{{Short description|English artist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ann Finlayson Adams
| image = File:Ann_Finlayson_(artist).png
| image_size =
| image_upright =
| pseudonym =
| birth_name = Ann Elizabeth Finlayson
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1941|11|06|df=y}}
| birth_place = Glasgow, Scotland
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1999|06|10|1941|11|06|df=y}}
| death_place = Riverside, Thorpe, England
| resting_place =
| education = Glasgow School of Art
Kingston School of Art
Royal College of Art
| occupation = Artist
| nationality = English
| spouse = {{marriage| John Barham Adams|1995}}
}}
Ann Finlayson (6 November 1941 - 10 June 1999) was an English painter, draughtsperson and teacher. She worked as an assistant to Bridget Riley and Peter Sedgley from 1969 to 1971. She was best known for her abstract watercolours.{{cite news |date=1999-06-10 |work=Staines and Egham News |author= |title=Obituaries |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005002/19990624/016/0016| page=16 |location=Staines, UK }}
Personal life and education
Ann Elizabeth Finlayson was born in Glasgow, the daughter of artist Helen Hay. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art in 1960, the Kingston School of Art from 1960 to 1964{{cite web |url=https://www.archiveksa.org/students-art-show-june-1964-newspaper-cutting/ |title=Students' Art Show, June 1964 |author= |website= archiveksa.org |access-date=2024-02-05}} and the Royal College of Art from 1965 to 1968. She won the E. Q. Henriques gift at the Royal College of Art in 1968 and the Daler-Rowney watercolour award at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1984. She married ceramicist John Barham Adams in Surrey, England in 1995.{{cite web |url=https://artuk.org/discover/artists/finlayson-anna-19431999 |title=Anna Finlayson |author= |website= artuk.org |access-date=2024-02-05}}
Art career
Finlayson worked as an assistant to Bridget Riley and Peter Sedgley between 1969 and 1971. She worked as an assistant to Alistair Grant in 1971 and assisted Leonard Rosoman with large scale murals from 1972 to 1974.{{cite news |date=1982-07-05 |work=The Scotsman |author=Edward Gage |title=Transatlantic Experiences |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/19820705/053/0004 |page=4 |location=Edinburgh, UK }}{{cite web |url=https://trent-art.co.uk/artist/finlayson-ann-1943-1999/ |title=Finlayson, Ann (1943-1999) |author= |website= trent-art.co.uk |access-date=2024-02-05}} She worked as an assistant to Ken Baynes, an exhibition consultant for the Welsh Arts Council, from 1972 to 1976.{{cite news |date=1999-06-24 |work=Surrey Herald |author= |title=Obituaries |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003604/19990624/016/0016 |page=16 |location=Surrey, UK }}
=Solo exhibitions=
1969 – New Art Centre, Sloane Street
1975 – Triad Gallery
1976 – Oxford Gallery, London
1985 – Adam Gallery, London
1997 – Thornton Bevan Arts, London
=Group exhibitions=
1985 – Artists Against Apartheid
1994 – London Guildhall University
2019 – “Works on paper” Trent Art Gallery, Newcastle Under Lyme{{cite web |url=https://trent-art.co.uk/works-on-paper-exhibition-7th-february-friday-1st-march/ |title=Works on Paper exhibition |author= |website= trent-art.co.uk |date=February 2019 |access-date=2024-02-05}}
=Royal Academy Summer exhibitions=
Finlayson had the following works selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition:
1970: Exploding Rectangle{{cite book |date=1970 |last=Monnington |first=Thomas |title=202nd Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition |publisher=William Clowes and Sons |location=London, UK |page=73 }}
1972: Maze, Release and Volcano{{cite book |date=1972 |last=Monnington |first=Thomas |title=204th Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition |publisher=William Clowes and Sons |location=London, UK |page=53 }}
1973: Silent Spaces, Bands of Time and Metamorphosis{{cite book |date=1973 |last=Monnington |first=Thomas |title=205th Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition |publisher=William Clowes and Sons |location=London, UK |page=88 }}
1974: Black Diamond Vortex{{cite book |date=1974 |last=Monnington |first=Thomas |title=206th Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition |publisher=William Clowes and Sons |location=London, UK |page=78 }}
1975: Wind and Reflection{{cite book |date=1975 |last=Monnington |first=Thomas |title=207th Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition |publisher=William Clowes and Sons |location=London, UK |page=82 }}
1982: Sunlit Flower and Tulip{{cite book |date=1982 |last=Casson |first=Hugh |title=214th Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition |publisher=William Clowes and Sons |location=London, UK |page=63 }}
1984: Sea Edge and Sea Horizon{{cite book |date=1982 |last=Casson |first=Hugh |title=216th Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition |publisher=William Clowes and Sons |location=London, UK |page=89 }}
1987: The Child is Mother of the Woman (ink, charcoal, pastel){{cite book |date=1987 |last=de Grey |first=Roger |title=219th Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition |publisher=William Clowes and Sons |location=London, UK |page=46 }}
=Collections=
Her work is held privately and in the following public collections:
- Bolton Museum of Art
- Bank of Boston, London
- Glyndebourne Opera House
- Hamilton Education Centre, Scotland
Teaching
- 1970 – 1971: Exeter College of Art and Design, visiting lecturer
- 1971 – 1972: Vauxhall Manor Secondary School
- 1976 – 1978: City and Guilds of London Art School, part-time lecturer
- 1976 – 1990: Kingston Polytechnic
- 1978 – 1984: Berkshire College of Art
- 1984 – 1985: London Guildhall University(Sir John Cass){{cite web |url=https://trent-art.co.uk/artist/finlayson-ann-1943-1999/ |title=Finlayson, Ann (1943-1999) |author= |website= trent-art.co.uk |access-date=2024-02-05}}{{cite web |url=https://artuk.org/discover/artists/finlayson-anna-19431999 |title=Anna Finlayson |author= |website= artuk.org |access-date=2024-02-05}}
Illness and death
Adams was diagnosed with multi-system atrophy, similar to Parkinson's disease, in 1995. She was told she had between five and ten years to live. Unable to create art and finding it “difficult to come to terms with her illness” she committed suicide on 10 June 1999, age 57.{{cite news |date=1999-08-13 |work=Staines informer |author=Richard Staines |title=Artist could not live with disease |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003780/19990813/010/0010 |page=10 |location=Staines, UK }} Together with a suicide note, she left “literature about voluntary euthanasia.” Following her death, Finlayson's husband lodged a formal complaint with the government, calling for a “radical improvement in arrangements between police detectives, officers and surgeons” in order to reduce stress on the bereaved.{{cite news |date=1999-08-12 |work=Surrey Herald |author=Sue Massey and Laura Abrar |title=Do this many police have to be involved |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003604/19990812/003/0003 |page=3 |location=Surrey, UK }}
External links
- [https://trent-art.co.uk/artist/finlayson-ann-1943-1999/ TrentArt] – for a selection of Finlayson's watercolours
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FODIoL2o-UI The Life and Paintings of Ann Finlayson 1943 to 1999 narrated by Finlayson’s stepdaughter]
{{Portal|biography}}