Margaret Thomas 1916 - 2016 R.B.A., R.W.A., N.E.A.C

Margaret Thomas, was one of the remaining grande dames of British 20th century painting, trained originally at the prestigious Slade School of Fine Art, transferring to the Royal Academy Schools for a final year in 1938.  There she was taught by Thomas Monnington.  She has been a dependable, restrained and subtle painter in a recognisably British manner.  Her work encompasses portraiture, landscape, town views such as the streets of Edinburgh or the pageant of London society, Most of all - she is known for a personal style of still life - a 'memento mori' of the casual bunch of flowers, caught just as they begin to sink away. They have been widely exhibited - at the Royal Academy and the Royal Scottish Academy, the R.B.A. and particularly through the annual exhibitions of  New English Art Club.

Well known to artists in her region of the Suffolk and Norfolk coasts, she is also well loved in Edinburgh, where she has had solo retrospective shows at the Scottish Gallery and Aitken Dott.  Today her work is in the collections of The Chantrey Bequest and the Arts Council among other public bodies and are widely collected privately.