Tom Fairs 1925-2007

Fairs was born in London in 1925. In 1948 he was accepted full time at Hornsey, and in 1950 went on to the Royal College of Art. He specialised in stained-glass design, and subsequently received several public commissions, which included working with Geoffrey Clarke on the nave windows on the new Coventry Cathedral. Strong structural underpinning and luminosity of his later paintings bear testament to this work.

Fairs had a broad experience of the visual arts. From 1954 to 1987 at the Central School of Art and Design he was a well-regarded teacher of fine art and stained-glass, having become a senior lecturer in stage design in 1967. It was only when he retired from teaching that he began to produce the work for which he is best known. The relatively short time left to him make his achievement all the more remarkable.

Tom Fairs was that rare creature in the jungle of the contemporary art world: a reclusive painter who sought no publicity, never staged a solo exhibition - though many galleries would have queued up for the chance to do so. From 1977, he exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy where his works were always purchased on the opening days.

Australia
Tom Fairs
Oil on canvas
61 x 72cm
c.1960 - Signed
POA