Name Edna Mann | Died 1985 | |
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Education Frances Bardsley Academy for Girls, Royal College of Art | ||
Edna Mann (1926, London, England – 1985) was a British painter and co-founder of the Borough Group of artists.
Mann was educated at Romford County High School for Girls and then studied art at the South-East Essex Technical College and School of Art. Here in 1942, she met the artists David Bomberg (1890–1957), who was teaching there, and Dorothy Mead. She and won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in 1945, but left after a year because of opposition to Bomberg's ideas there.
Edna Mann and Dorothy Mead followed Bomberg to the City Literary Institute, where they met Cliff Holden, and then the Borough Polytechnic (now London South Bank University) from 1946. She was a founder member of the Borough Group of artists influenced by Bomberg at Borough Polytechnic, together with Cliff Holden (the first president), Dorothy Mead and Peter Richmond. She exhibited with the group until she became pregnant, when Bomberg asked her to resign. He believed that it was impossible be a serious artist while raising young children.
Mann was part of the Harlow Arts Festival and also held her first solo exhibition at the Drian Gallery in 1965.