Fanny Rush is a London-based portrait painter working internationally. Her distinctive artistic talents have gained her commissions from high-profile and influential people taking her to some of the most extraordinary and exotic places in the world.
Among her British commissions are US Ambassador Robert Tuttle for the US Embassy London, Nobel Laureate Sir Paul Nurse now President of the Crick Institute, Chairman of the Wellcome Institute Sir William Castell for the Wellcome Institute and Shane Warne for the Pavilion at Lord’s.
Rush’s portraits are unique. She has an intrinsic ability to capture not only the faces of her sitters but also their individual character. With no formal art education and fascinated by the long-forgotten painting techniques of the old masters, Rush’s talents are entirely self-taught. Her skills have been cultivated over many years spent studying original artist’s writings and the canon of portraiture. Revisiting the portraits of the greats such as Rembrandt, Titian and Velasquez, Rush adopted their exacting techniques combining them with her contemporary eye. Rush’s portraits are deep, rich, substantial.
Born into a family of professional artists, Rush is the daughter of sculptor Caroline Lucas and landscape painter Peter Rush. She is the sister of sculptor Joe Rush, who is also the creator of the Mutoid Waste Company and the art-director of Glastonbury Festival. She is the granddaughter of the writer Mary Norton, known for her classic children’s books ‘The Borrowers’ and ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’.
In her youth Rush took her own path in the family vocation and turned her attention to photography, working as a fashion stylist with the leading photographers of the time such as Patrick Lichfield. Here she developed her understanding of composition, shape and colour. Her job required her to travel the globe which instilled her love of working internationally. By her thirties she had moved into the film industry as an art director and it was while working in São Paulo Brazil in the mid-1990s that her work won a Cannes film award.
It was during her time in São Paulo that Rush began to paint and she quickly discovered it was her passion to paint the human physiognomy. She moved back to London to pursue portraiture full time and gained commissions through word of mouth. Now, Rush’s career spans over twenty years and she is approached to paint some of the world’s leading names.
Based in Nine Elms, London, Rush recently bought two adjoining properties, knocking them through and rebuilding them. This is now her living and studio space, decorated using her unique sense of style, the art-filled space is full of antiques and unusual objects she has collected on her travels.
For further information please visit: https://fannyrush.com
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