Tess Jaray facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tess Jaray
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Early Piazza, 1964. Oil on canvas
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| Born | 1937 (age 87–88) Vienna, Austria
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| Nationality | British |
| Education | Saint Martins School of Art, Slade School of Fine Art |
| Known for | Painting and drawing |
Tess Jaray (born 1937) is a talented British artist. She is known for her amazing paintings and prints. Tess Jaray also taught art at a famous school called The Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1968 to 1999.
She has created many large art projects for public places, like train stations and city squares. In 1995, she became an Honorary Fellow of the RIBA (Royal Institute for British Architects). This was because of her important work in urban design. In 2010, she became a Royal Academician, which is a special honor for artists in the UK.
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Early Life and Family
Tess Jaray was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1937. When she was very young, her family moved to a quiet countryside area in Worcestershire, England. They moved in 1938 because it was not safe for people of Jewish background to live in Austria after it was taken over by Nazi Germany.
Her father, Franz Ferdinand Jaray, was a clever chemical engineer and inventor. Her mother, Pauline Arndt, also studied art in Vienna. Tess Jaray's great-aunt, Lea Bondi Jaray, was a gallery owner who helped bring many German Expressionist artists to London. Tess Jaray has said that Gustav Klimt, a famous artist from Vienna, was one of the first artists she learned about as a teenager.
Art School and Travels
Tess Jaray studied art at two well-known schools: the Saint Martins School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art. Before starting at the Slade, she took some time to travel to Paris, France. There, she met other artists and explored the city.
After five months, she returned to London to attend the Slade. Her teachers there, like William Coldstream and E.H. Gombrich, greatly influenced her artistic ideas.
After art school, Tess Jaray received two special scholarships to travel. In 1960, she went to Italy. This trip was very important because she saw amazing Italian architecture for the first time. She realized how buildings and spaces could make people feel different emotions. In 1961, she received another scholarship to return to France. While in Paris, she worked in an etching studio called Atelier 17.
Art Style and Teaching
The beautiful buildings and spaces Tess Jaray saw in Italy greatly influenced her unique art style. She noticed how simple lines in ceilings could change how a space felt. Her paintings often explore how shapes, patterns, and colors affect space. She creates patterns that can make you see things in different ways, almost like they are shifting.
In 1964, Tess Jaray began teaching art. She taught at Hornsey College of Art for four years. Then, in 1968, she became the first female teacher at the Slade School of Fine Art. She continued to teach there until 1999.
Art in Public Places
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From 1985 to 2000, Tess Jaray spent a lot of her time creating art for public spaces. She used her understanding of architecture and patterns to design large projects.
One of her important works was a special floor pattern for London Victoria train station. She also designed paving, lamps, and railings for places like Centenary Square in Birmingham, and the forecourt of the new British Embassy in Moscow.
Where to See Her Art
Tess Jaray's artwork can be found in many important art collections around the world. Some of these include:
- Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, UK
- Arts Council Collection, London, UK
- British Museum, London, UK
- Brooklyn Museum
- The Tate, London, UK
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
- Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK
Exhibitions
Her art was part of a big exhibition in 2021 called Women in Abstraction at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Writing About Art
Tess Jaray has also written a lot about her own art and the art of others. Some of her writings have appeared in exhibition catalogs and on BBC Radio 3.
In 2001, she worked with a German writer named W.G. Sebald on an exhibition and a book. The exhibition showed her artworks inspired by parts of Sebald's novels, The Rings of Saturn and Vertigo. Later that year, another book called For Years Now combined her paintings with Sebald's short poems.
A collection of Tess Jaray's own essays and thoughts about art and life was published in a book called Painting: Mysteries & Confessions in 2010. She continues to live and work in London.
