Margaret Mellis b. 1914

Margaret Mellis was born in China, of Scottish parents, in 1914, and attended Edinburgh College of Art 1929-1933. She married Adrian Stokes in 1938 and lived in Carbis Bay, Cornwall from 1939-1946. She began making constructions after meeting Hepworth, Nicholson and Gabo in St Ives. She moved to France between 1948-50 and since then has lived and worked in Southwold, Suffolk.

works in the collection - 4

PAC/060

Mellis returned to painting in the 1950s after exploring abstraction in Cornwall during WWII. This work is part of an extended series of Anemone still life paintings, which in their concentration on simplicity of form and composition are reminiscent of the work of William Scott and Ben Nicholson.

Dead Anemones, 1957


PAC/061

Mellis returned to painting in the 1950s after exploring abstraction in Cornwall during WWII. This work is part of an extended series of Anemone still life paintings, which in their concentration on simplicity of form and composition are reminiscent of the work of William Scott.

Anemones gone to seed, circa 1957


PAC/059

Mellis has been making driftwood constructions from materials collected on the beach near her home in Southwold, Suffolk since 1978. Her association with Constructivism originates in her contact with Gabo, Hepworth and Nicholson in Carbis Bay, Cornwall during WWII.

Driftwood Relief Three, 1980


PAC/062

In 1987 Mellis rediscovered an anemone drawing she had made on an envelope in 1957. Struck by the unforced nature of the piece she has made over ninety envelope drawings to date.

Anemones at Night, 1990