Mary Dinsdale

Available for sale from Big Sky Fine Art in the English county of Dorset, this original painting is by Mary Dinsdale and dates from the 1980s.<br> The painting is presented and supplied in a sympathetic contemporary frame (which is shown in these photographs), and behind premium anti-reflective glass with UV Protection greater than 70% (Artglass AR 70™). <br> This vintage painting is in very good condition, commensurate with its age. It wants for nothing and is supplied ready to hang and display.<br> The painting is signed lower left.<br> <br> Previously with the Rye Art Gallery’s Easton Rooms, Rye, East Sussex.<br> <br> Mary Dinsdale was an accomplished and versatile English artist, who was born in Guildford, Surrey. She trained at Guildford and Harrow Schools of Art (1936-39).<br> She put her artistic talents to good use during the Second World War, serving as an engineering draftsman. In the spring of 1945 she married James Albert Dinsdale in Brentford, Middlesex and in 1961 they had a son, Andrew. She lived for many years in the Hastings area.<br> After the war, Dinsdale began a career as a freelance illustrator, working for a variety of magazines. She contributed to major publications of the day, including Lilliput, Strand, Punch and the Radio Times, where she worked for many years. She went on to work in advertising and by 1953 was also illustrating books. She illustrated numerous books, mainly for children, throughout the 1950s,’60s and ‘70s. Her most famous was probably Noel Streatfield’s Ballet Shoes for Anna in 1973. Her last major illustrated work was W.B. Yeats’ The Poet’s Love of Women for Pickpocket Books in 1990.<br> <br> From the 1980s, Dinsdale was able to concentrate on painting, in a variety of media, but chiefly in gouache. She brought a maturity and experience to her work which shines out. Drawing was a strong element of her work, which often has a distinctly Neo-Romantic flavour.<br> <br> She showed widely in the south of England, and was a member of Hastings Arts and the Rye Society of Artists. Her work was often exhibited at the Easton Rooms, the Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, Wedges Gallery in Hastings and the Dandelion Gallery in Tunbridge Wells. Today her work appears in some public collections.<br> <br> Dinsdale, as a beautiful young woman, appears as a sitter in a photograph by John Gay in the National Portrait Gallery. <br> <br> © Big Sky Fine Art<br> <br> This is a very classy watercolour and gouache painting on paper, expertly executed almost entirely in shades of cream and gold. It depicts three figures, shown from the waist upwards, and without clothing. The forms are ethereal, almost sculptural, reminiscent of the work of sculptor Elizabeth Frink, or the famous Heads of Easter Islands. <br> <br> To the centre and right there is a couple, one male and one female; he has his left arm wrapped around her and holds his right arm across her chest in a protective manner. She has raised her left hand to meet his arm, in agreement with this gesture. To the left is another male figure who is holding a branch with light foliage in his left hand. He approaches the couple with an expression of enquiry and no obvious animosity, yet the way the couple draw together suggests both interest and tension in the encounter. This may be a threat, or a blessing – the painting is open to interpretation and is all the more intriguing for this.