One of the finest landscape painters of his generation - obsessed with capturing colour and light
Fred Cuming was born in in London and trained at the Sidcup School of Art from 1945 until 1949. After completing his National Service, he studied at the Royal College of Art for four years and was awarded the Abbey Travel Scholarship to visit Rome.
Fred has taught extensively, begining his teaching career in 1956 at the Harrow School of Art. He went on to teach part-time at Maidstone (and Rochester) School of Art (1957), Wathlemstow Art College (1958 - 60), Hornsey Art School (1960 - 65), Leicester School of Art 1(1976) and Farnham School of Art (1978 - 83).
In 2004, Fred Cuming was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of the Arts at the University of Kent in Canterbury, in recognition of his status as an artist and his lifetime contribution to the Arts.
The Southern English coastline, in particular the area around Camber, Hastings and Rye, has provided the backdrop for much of Fred's work. As well as continuing to paint English landscape scenes, Fred also devotes time to the beauty of Venice and Tuscany. The tonal and pictorial values in his impressionist oil studies are true to nature, achieved by his distinctive technique of quickly layered colour resulting in a sensitive and unique rendering of light and mood. Indicative of the Camden School Group, his trademark palette is refreshingly limited, making his paintings definitively 'Cuming'.
In writing about his work, Fred Cuming has said, "I am not interested in pure representation, my work is about responses to the moods and atmospheres generated by landscape, still life or interior. I am interested in the developments of 20th Century painting, in abstraction, that has been present in all movements, and in new ideas and art forms. My philosophy is that the more I work the more I discover. Drawing is essential as a tool of discovery; skill and mastery of technique are also essential, but only as a vocabulary and a means towards an idea. I struggle to keep an open mind."
Recent Solo Exhibitions
2016 Adam Gallery, London
2014 Adam Gallery, London
2013 Adam Gallery, London
2012 Brian Sinfield Gallery, Oxfordshire
2011 Thompson Gallery
2010 Adam Gallery, London
2009 Brian Sinfield Gallery, Oxfordshire
2009 Thompson’s Gallery, London
2008 Adam Gallery, London and Bath
2006 Adam Gallery, London and Bath
2006 Thompson Gallery, London
2002 Alresford Gallery, Alresford
2001 City Gallery, London
2001 Adam Gallery, Bath
2001 Neville Gallery, Canterbury
2001 Alresford Gallery, Alresford, Hampshire
2000 New Grafton Gallery, London
Collections
Royal Academy
Ministry of Works
Maidstone Museum
Carlisle Museum
Worcester College, Oxford,
London Tourist Board
National Trust Foundation for Art
Department of the Environment
Brighton and Hove Museum
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
Bradford Museum
New Metropole Arts Centre, Folkestone
Monte Carlo Museum
St John's College, Oxford
Lloyd's of London
London Weekend Television
The Guinness Collection
