Alice Fanner 1866-1930

Alice Maud Fanner, SWA (1866-1930) was a well-known painter of landscapes and marine subjects, noted for her yachting scenes. She was born in Lambeth (then in the borough of Richmond) in May 1866, was educated at Wimbledon High School, studied art at the Slade School in London. Thereafter she studied under Julius Olsson in St.Ives, Cornwall and also later in Paris. In 1890, in Kingston-upon-Thames, she married the Australian born Arthur Edward Taite and in the early years of their marriage they lived in Twickenham and then in Datchet by the River Thames. During that time she taught art at the Richmond School of Art. She exhibited widely, including at the Royal Academy from 1897, and also at the Royal Scottish Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists, the Royal Hibernian Academy, the New English Art Club, the Glasgow Institute, the Paris Salon, the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, and the Society of Women Artists of which group she was a member. Her husband was a merchant dealing primarily with suppliers in South America and it appears that the artist accompanied him on a visit to Brazil where she painted in Rio de Janeiro. She also worked extensively in France, in the Italian Lakes, and it would appear also in Cape Town, South Africa. After leaving Datchet she lived in south-west London. She removed to Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex, died in October 1930 and was buried in the churchyard at Creeksea in Essex. She delighted in painting the coasts of Kent (especially Ramsgate and Pegwell Bay) and Essex and painted the yachting at Cowes, Isle of Wight, on a number of occasions. Her work is held in several public collections including Birmingham Museums, Brighton & Hove Museums & Galleries, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Dudley Museums, Ferens Art Gallery Hull, and the London Transport Museum. @ Grant Waters