Deirdre Borlase

Deirdre Borlase (1925–2018) was a British painter and printmaker.

Deirdre Borlase
Born	1925 Dulwich, London
Died	2018 (aged 92–93)
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Bromley School of Art Royal College of Art
Known for	Painting
Spouse(s)	Frederick Brill

Biography

Borlase was born at Dulwich in London and grew up Margate, where her father was a plumber.[1] She studied at the Bromley School of Art between 1940 and 1944 and then at the Royal College of Art in London for a further two years.[2] After graduating she taught at the Harrow School of Art for two years and then at the Kingston School of Art until 1950.[3] After a career break, Borlase returned to art in 1967, creating landscapes of Venice and, later, of Carperby in north Yorkshire where the family had a cottage from 1981.[3][1] She was commissioned for six paintings by St Luke's Hospital in Bradford.[3] As well as painting Borlase took up print making after taking a course at Morley College in 1977 and in the 1990s began experimentating with computer graphics and also with decorating furnature.[3] Borlase was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy in London and in group shows. She had a solo show at the David Thompson Gallery in 1979 and exhibited on a regular basis at the Broughton House Gallery in Cambridge from 1989.[3] Later she regularly showed new work with the Zillah Bell Gallery in Thirsk.[1]

While a student at the Royal College of Art, Borlase met, and later married, the artist Frederick Brill, (1920–1984), who became the principal of the Chelsea Art School.[2] The couple's work was subject of a two person exhibition in 1986 and featured in the 1993 exhibition Relative Values at the Smith Art Gallery and Museum in Stirling.[3] Borlase's paintings featured in the exhibition The Secret to a Good Life which opened at the Royal Academy in September 2018, some months after she died.[4][5] The exhibition was curated by one of her three children, the artist Bob and Roberta Smith.[4][5]

References

1. Bob and Roberta Smith (30 July 2018). "Deirdre Borlase obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
2. Frances Spalding (1990). 20th Century Painters and Sculptors. Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN 1 85149 106 6.
3. David Buckman (2006). Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 1, A to L. Art Dictionaries Ltd. ISBN 0 953260 95 X.
4. "The Secret to a Good Life". Royal Academy. 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
5. Louisa Buck (6 September 2018). "Bob and Roberts Smith's family values and pencil power at the Royal Academy of Arts". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 7 June 2020.