In Memoriam - Ann Crawford

It is with sadness that we mark the passing of Ann Crawford, who died at the end of July.

Ann in her studio

Ann was a talented artist and loyal member of the Friends, whose life was as vibrant and colourful as her art.  She was born on 11 November 1931 and grew up in south London, where her first passion was tennis.  The arts took over, however, and, after art college, Ann spent time in Italy and the south of France, working on film sets - rather glamorously - with Zsa Zsa Gabor and Graham Greene.  Back in England, a degree in art history was followed by a successful career as an art restorer, specialising in the work of the Old Masters and the Bloomsbury Group.  As an artist, she worked in all media, but her favourite medium was stone lithography, which she described as “a wonderful medium for using colour… [giving] scope for wide ranging freedom of expression”.  She exhibited widely, including at the Royal Academy, and was regularly shortlisted for prizes in local exhibitions.  Many of you will have seen her luminous prints of animals and circus scenes at her studio in Culworth, which she opened each year for Oxfordshire Artweeks, or in the exhibition ‘Natural and Fantastical’ at the Heseltine Gallery in 2018.

Ann Crawford, Bird and Landscape

Known as Paddy to her family and close friends, Ann was a lover of fine art, music, cooking, Christmas and cats - many of whom she immortalised in her paintings and prints.  She will be much missed by us all.