DUBERY, Fred

1926 - 2011

Frederick Thomas Stanley Dubery was born at Croydon, Surrey on 12 May 1926, only child of Frederic Dubery (25 March 1891-15 April 1977), a dental mechanic, and his wife Gladys Lydia née White (6 June 1899-1968), who married at Edmonton in 1922, although Fred described himself as 'a native of Suffolk'. His early years were clouded by a stammer, and he left Whitgift Grammar School, Croydon aged 16, with a marked lack of confidence but a singular and abiding sense of style. After working in an advertising agency, at the age of 18 was conscripted into the Royal Artillery as a mapmaker, joining the allied advance across northern France and Germany. After demobilisation he studied at Croydon College of Art 1949-1950 and at Royal College of Art 1950-1953 where he was awarded a painting prize by Francis Bacon (1909-1992). Graduating in 1953, he lived at Thornton Heath but maintained a studio at the home of sculptor Marc Clark (1923-2021) and his wife Rowena, at Palace Road, Streatham Hill, whilst teaching painting and drawing part-time at Croydon College of Art & Design. In 1964, being invited by keeper Peter Greenham (1909-1992), became a visiting tutor at the Royal Academy Schools, where he was appointed Professor of Perspective in 1984, at the same time working as a part-time senior lecturer at his old Royal College of Art until 1989. Fred Dubery was elected to the New English Art Club in 1956 and made an honorary life member in 1996. A regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy 1955-2007 also showing at the New English Art Club; Leicester Galleries and Roland Browse & Delbanco and had solo shows at Trafford Gallery; New Grafton Gallery since 1974 and Sebastian Pearson Gallery, Cambridge. Whilst teaching at Walthamstow School of Art in 1963, he met fashion tutor Joanne Brogden, who had a base at Cap d’Antibes and they began joint adventures abroad and they married at Marseilles in 1965, from which time they spent Easter and summer vacations sketching in France or Italy. While visiting close friends and fellow artists Lionel Bulmer and Margaret Green, they found and rented a moated and near-derelict Suffolk long house near Rattlesden and in 1968, they purchased a former dairy farm Buxhall Lodge at Great Finborough, Stowmarket, Suffolk and for the next 40 years this setting was the backdrop for Fred’s pictures. He always worked in oils, loving the manipulation of pigment, and working thinly and with beeswax to gain a translucent quality, painting landscapes around the River Dove and at Gun Hill, Southwold. A series of strokes ended his painting career, and he died in West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmund's, on 8 April 2011 and on the day that he died, several of his pictures were accepted for a New English Art Club survey at Messum Fine Art in London’s Cork Street. He was the author of two books 'Drawing Systems' (1972) and 'Perspective and Other Drawing Systems' (1983).

Royal Academy exhibits
from 66 Stanley Road, West Croydon, Surrey
1955 539 Waiting for Christmas
         545 Slack Afternoon
1958 456 Arsenale, Venice
         501 Still Life
1959 415 The Red Room
1960 661 The River at Lambeth
1961 87 Charing Cross Bridge
         615 Flamingos
1962 216 Pawlonia Tree
         251 Rope Walk Side
         342 Eagle Cages
1964 351 Homage to Arcimboldo
         357 Poppy
1965 204 A Rose is a Rose is a Rose
         629 Portrait of the Artist
from 5 Rockwell Gardens, Dulwich Wood Park, Southeast London
1966 477 Galatia
         558 Winter Garden
         1317 Leopard
1967 487 Hosta
         888 Blue Room
         1227 On the River
from Abbey Hall, Great Finborough, Stowmarket, Suffolk
1971 531 Nuts
         699 Barns
1972 351 Two Chairs
         565 Sewing
         860 Spring
1973 17 The Orchard
         286 Jardinière – brush drawing
         991 Suffolk Kitchen
1975 976 Writing
         1209 Winter Garden
1976 1118 The Back House Fire
         1131 Plants in a Garden Shelter
         1132 The Hall
1977 104 Polish Bantams
         448 Pipe-smoking Painter
         1130 Autumn Garden
1978 32 Angles and Ovals
         715 Oval and Angle
from Buxhall Lodge, Great Finborough, Stowmarket
1984 1347 Joanne Brogden at home
         1380 Garden Chair in June
1987 603 February Morning
         618 Bright Morning
         999 Kitchen Jugs
1989 405 Kitchen Window
         920 Spring Garden
1990 26 White Tulip
1992 429 Butterfly Meadow
         1056 Hunter in the Snow
1993 358 Santa Maria Formosa, Venice
         921 Wisteria, A. M.
         1303 Feverfew, Daisies and others
1994 492 Water Bus, Zitelle
1995 937 Hondecoeter Mezzotint
         1044 The Birds
1996 386 Pewter Peppers
         465 Reflections
1997 504 Early Spring
         1139 Evening
2002 577 Christmas
2003 367 Pleasurable Neglect
2004 379 Six Oysters
         415 Garden and Meadow
2005 356 Quince Tree
         442 Lilies
         451 Pelicans
2006 72 Sleeping Girl
         390 Fish Plate
         780 Striped Shirt
2007 396 A Goldfish Bowl with Shells

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Works by This Artist