Tess Jaray, Influential Painter of Understated Abstractions, Dies at 88
British painter Tess Jaray, known for understated abstract paintings featuring grids, cubes, and zigzags on pale grounds, died on Sunday at age 88, according to an obituary posted on her official Instagram account. Born in Vienna in 1937, she moved to England after her Jewish parents fled Austria the following year; many relatives were killed in concentration camps. Jaray studied at Saint Martin’s School of Art and Design and the Slade School of Fine Art, and in 1968 became Slade’s first female teacher; she later influenced artists including Rana Begum, who once assisted her. Jaray described a pivotal 1960 trip to Italy after graduating Slade as shaping her desire “to make space” in painting, and she received major recognition later in life, including a Vienna survey at Secession in 2021.
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This story was covered in AI Art Wars and Museum Reckonings