Fiona Rae

Untitled (grey and brown)

1991

Not on display

Artist: Fiona Rae born 1963
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 2133 × 1981 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Purchased 1991
Reference: T06481

Display caption

Fiona Rae is one of a number of artists trained at Goldsmiths' College who have recently emerged as a force in British art. She was included in 'The British Art Show' in Glasgow and London in 1990 and in the open section (aperto) at the Venice Biennale the same year where her work was received with acclaim. Recently she held a one-person exhibition in London from which this work was acquired. This and 'Untitled (yellow)' are the first paintings by Rae to enter the collection of the Tate Gallery.

Gallery label, August 2004

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Technique and condition

Painted in oil on primed cotton canvas, the linked episodes of painting occupies the whole of the canvas.

The artist prepared the canvas by stretching medium weight cotton duck, supplied by Russell & Chapple onto a stretcher made by D.W. Stretchers. The canvas is sized with two coats of rabbit-skin glue and primed with Spectrum Thixotropic Alkyd Primer. The ground colour is thinned oil paint.

Executed over a period of a few days, Rae used artists' oil paint made by Sennelier and Schevengingen, 'Old Holland' paint. These were mixed with a wide variety of painting media including waxes, oils, resin varnishes and alkyd painting media. Rae experimented with these additives to modify the qualities of her paints which she generally applied with brushes, using masking tape to define the flatter hard edged forms. The complex surface incorporates work in charcoal and pastel.

The painting is neither varnished or framed.