Gerda Mary Sutton (, 3 April 1923–30 September 2005) was a British atomic researcher and painter who became a naturalised citizen of France.

Life

Sutton was born in

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

, Bedfordshire in 1923. She studied and worked in the atomic research field in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, then in Harwell, England. She left her atomic research career and moved to France to focus on painting. Sutton studied art at the Académie

André Lhote André Lhote (5 July 1885 – 24 January 1962) was a French Cubist painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes, and still life. He was also active and influential as a teacher and writer on art. Early life and education Lhote was bor ...

alongside William Klein, Frédéric Menguy and

Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French artist and Humanist photography, humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 135 film, 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street ...

. During the 1950s, she firstly painted in a realistic style, before producing

cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

landscapes and expressionist characters. After the terrorist attacks in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in the mid-eighties and the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

, her works became more radical and featured "violent forms of abstraction and collage." Sutton became involved with the group Reflets around 1965. From 1977 she was a member of the ''Union des Femmes Peintres et Sculpteurs'' ( Union of Women Painters and Sculptors). Her works were exhibited in several French galleries including in

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; also spelled ; ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. It is a luxu ...

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

and Paris. She became a naturalised French citizen in 1993, and died in 2005 at the

18th arrondissement of Paris The 18th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements, or administrative districts, of Paris, the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as '' ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutton, Gerda 1923 births 2005 deaths People from Bedford British expatriates in France 20th-century British women painters 20th-century French women painters British cubist artists British abstract artists People with multiple citizenship