Janet Katherine Cree(18th March 1910 - 17th March 1992)Janet Cree was born in Battersea, the daughter of Ivy Cree, also a talented painter, and "Dick" Cree, a barrister. Her father was killed at Ypres in 1915, some three days after going to the front. Janet went to the Byam Shaw School of Art where she was taught by F E Jackson. In 1933 she won a Scholarship to remain at the Byam Shaw for an extra year. During that year her tempera painting "An Original Portrait", exhibited at the Royal Academy, was bought by the Chantry Bequest for the Tate Gallery. It is currently on view at the Tate. Janet exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition during the 1930s. Before the Second World war she was commissioned by the Bishop of Chichester to paint a series of murals for churches in the Sussex Downs. Although some of the cartoons for the murals had been completed the outbreak of war brought the commission to an end. The war years were spent at Assington Hall in Suffolk caring for evacuees and her own by then growing family of boys. Janet's time for painting was limited both by the war and by the need to care for her six sons. Her painting career really only revived during the mid to late 1960s. Very few of her works during the 1950s remain in the family. At that time she regularly painted with Sybil Trist, who became Lady Richardson, a long standing friend from her days at the Byam Shaw School. A drawing and tempera of Sybil are exhibited. Janet had at least one exhibition of her works at 13 Cavendish Avenue, the family home until 1956. During the 1960s and 1970s she gained much support from working with Christian Maxwell (sister of Gavin). Janet and Christian went on many painting trips together as well as working in each other's studios. An interior view of Christian's family home, Monreith, is exhibited. Once her career revived, Janet began again to exhibit on a regular basis. Her paintings have been exhibited at the Royal Academy, the ROI, New English, Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Society of Women Artists and the United Society of Artists of which she was a member, and in recent years a Council Member. In Sussex Janet was for some years an active member of the Attic Club and she regularly exhibited at its shows in Ditchling. Her works have in exhibited at galleries in London, Eastbourne, Brighton and Lavenham. Many of her paintings are in private collections and a tempera was recently sold at Sotheby's. She held regular exhibitions in Sussex both at New House and more recently at her Studio at Terrible Down Farm. In putting on this exhibition of her works we have attempted to illustrate the wide range of subjects painted by Janet with examples from the early 1930s through to 1992. |