Olwyn Bowey RA

1920 - 1999

Olwyn Bowey studied at the West Hartlepool School of Art and at the Royal College of Art, where she received a First Class Diploma, a continuation scholarship and a David Murray Landscape Scholarship.

She first exhibited at the Leicester Galleries, London, and contributed to group exhibitions at the Zwemmer Gallery, London in 1961 and the New Grafton Gallery, London in 1969. Initially interested in portraiture, she later moved to the countryside to concentrate on landscape and still-life, being particularly interested in the tradition of the artist plantsman. An exhibition on this theme, entitled Olwyn Bowey Drawings, was held in the Friends’ Room at the Academy in 2000. Nowadays, Bowey always works on the spot, often outdoors, but mostly in her greenhouse, which doubles as a studio.

Elected Royal Academician in 1975