ART GALLERY

Fred Cuming RA  ( 1930 - 2022)

Fred Cuming was a Senior Royal Academician and, when elected RA in 1974, was the youngest member to be elected to the Royal Academy of Arts. He was one of only five artists granted a Solo Exhibition in the 'Friends Room' at the Royal Academy. The Solo Exhibitions ran between 1999 and 2004 and were granted to (in order) David Hockney, Frank Stella, Fred Cuming, Allen Jones and Anthony Greenhung.

Particularly fascinated by the observation and depiction of light and atmosphere, Fred Cuming was one of England's foremost and best-loved contemporary landscape painters.

The East Sussex coastline, in particular the area around Camber and Rye, has provided the backdrop for much of Fred's work. The tonal and pictorial values in his oil studies are true to nature and are achieved by his distinctive technique of quickly layered colour resulting in a sensitive and unique rendering of light and mood. His trademark palette, indicative of the Camden School Group, is refreshingly limited, making his paintings definitively 'Cuming'.

Fred Cuming was born in 1930 in London and trained at the Sidcup School of Art between 1945 and 1949. His work is National and International public collections and in 1996 he was commissioned to paint a portrait of Stephen Hawking. This portrait is now part of the National Portrait Gallery collection.

Public Collections
The Royal Academy, Ministry of Works, Stormont Gallery, Rye, Maidstone Museum, Canterbury Museum, Carlisle Museum,  Worcester College, Oxford, London Tourist Board, National Trust Foundation for Art, Department of the Environment, Brighton and Hove Museum, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, Bradford Museum, National Portrait Gallery, W H Smith Ltd, New Metropole Arts Centre, Folkestone, Eastbourne Towner Museum, Shell, Monte Carlo Museum, St John's College, Oxford, Lloyd's of London, London Weekend Television and the Guinness Collection.