Bedford Park Watercolours Find New Home
Paintings of local roads by Fenja Anderson placed in St Michael & All Angels
Queen Annes Gardens. Picture: Fenja Anderson
A piece of Bedford Park’s artistic history has returned with the placing of four watercolours within St Michael & All Angels Church
The paintings by Fenja Anderson (née Gunn 1941–2020) depict Blenheim Road, Marlborough Crescent, Queen Anne’s Gardens and Woodstock Road were unveiled at a ceremony in the Church on Saturday 6 November.
The artworks, completed in 1983-4, were donated by her husband Anthony to the Bedford Park Society. Fenja and Anthony lived at 33 Abinger Road from 1973–96 during which time she was extremely active locally playing a key role in the launch of the Open Gardens event, now part of the Bedford Park Festival, and writing and illustrating Gardening in Bedford Park for the Bedford Park Society.
Fenja worked first as a freelance fashion artist. After her history of cosmetics, The Artificial Face, was published in 1973, she started painting watercolours of street scenes and houses, many on commission. Gardening then became her main interest.
Fenja Anderson
She provided the illustrations for The Illustrated Garden Planter by Diana Saville, researched, wrote and illustrated Lost Gardens of Gertrude Jekyll and wrote many articles for magazines. The Andersons moved in 1996 to Bradfield in West Berkshire where Fenja designed and planted a celebrated garden, Mariners, which attracted visitors from all over the world.
Woodstock Road. Picture: Fenja Anderson
Nigel Woolner, President of the Bedford Park Society, who was responsible for finding a suitable site and arranging to hang the paintings, said, “We are delighted to have been able to find a location for these wonderful paintings in the Church at the heart of the community, which is just what Fenja would have wanted. We are very grateful to Father Kevin for agreeing to hang them in a place which displays them to great advantage and gives a new dimension to the staircase when visiting the Sacristy. The paintings can now be enjoyed by Bedford Park residents and visitors for generations to come.”
Blenheim Road. Picture: Fenja Anderson
The four watercolours, displayed on the staircase wall opposite the Sacristy, were unveiled by Anthony Anderson at a ceremony attended by members of Fenja’s and Anthony’s family together with representatives from the Bedford Park Society and St Michael & All Angels.
Marlborough Crescent. Picture: Fenja Anderson
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
November 11, 2021
