Working in a museum and occasionally collecting work for the national collection I realise just how difficult it is to collect a cohesive and such an important group of works and thanks from all of us need to go to Barrie Maskell for such an important collection. I know just how difficult it must have been to assemble this group of works: I have been chasing some of these artists myself for a number of years and haven't managed to get work half as good as some of these works you see here today.
- Nicholas Thornton Head of modern and contemporary art Amguedda Cymru-National Museum Wales Cardiff
George Fairley (1920 - 2003)
Biography
After the war, he joined the staff at Swansea College of Art where he remained a lecturer in fine art for over fifteen years, from 1946 to 1962. He was inspired by all forms of art, music and literature and in this respect he was fortunate, as amongst his close circle of friends were Kingsley Amis, Alfred Janes, Daniel Jones, Dylan Thomas, Wynford Vaughan Thomas and Vernon Watkins.
In 1962 Fairley was appointed head of the foundation studies department at Croydon College of Art but remained an associate member of the 56 Group until 1966. He retired from lecturing in 1982, and then moved to a converted windmill in West Sussex with his wife Mary Fairley where he successfully ran art classes for many years. He died there on 23 November 2003.
The works of George Fairley can be found in the following collections:-
Aberystwyth University; Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum of Wales, Cardiff; Arts Council of Great Britain; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Saidenberg Gallery, New York; Swansea University; University of Warwick; other public and private collections.
After the war, he joined the staff at Swansea College of Art where he remained a lecturer in fine art for over fifteen years, from 1946 to 1962. He was inspired by all forms of art, music and literature and in this respect he was fortunate, as amongst his close circle of friends were Kingsley Amis, Alfred Janes, Daniel Jones, Dylan Thomas, Wynford Vaughan Thomas and Vernon Watkins.
In 1962 Fairley was appointed head of the foundation studies department at Croydon College of Art but remained an associate member of the 56 Group until 1966. He retired from lecturing in 1982, and then moved to a converted windmill in West Sussex with his wife Mary Fairley where he successfully ran art classes for many years. He died there on 23 November 2003.
The works of George Fairley can be found in the following collections:-
Aberystwyth University; Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum of Wales, Cardiff; Arts Council of Great Britain; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Saidenberg Gallery, New York; Swansea University; University of Warwick; other public and private collections.
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