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1905-1994

Robert Medley was born in London. He studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London, and later at the Slade School of Fine Art before spending two years in Paris.

He taught at a number of art schools, becoming Head of Theatre Design at the Slade and Head of Fine Art at Camberwell School of Art and Design.

During the 1930’s he worked mostly in various avant-garde styles, and had a painting in the International Surrealist Exhibition, London in 1936. The following year. 

He became a founding member of the anti-fascist group, the Artists International Association which promoted socialist and avant-garde art. During the Second World War he served as an official war artist after which he continued to teach at a number of renowned artistic institutions.

Although a figurative artist, he experimented with an abstract style in which the sureness of brush strokes gave an energy and vitality to his work, but in later years he returned to figurative painting. These later figurative pieces are the most widely respected of his works.