Susan Ryder, RP NEAC
Susan Ryder was born in 1944. She began painting professionally at an early age. Encouraged by her father, Robert Ryder VC, an enthusiastic amateur painter who imbued his daughter with a similar passion, she entered the prestigious Byam Shaw School of Art in London in 1960. There, her tutor, Bernard Dunstan, introduced her to the work of the post- impressionist Edouard Vuillard, whose gentle scenes of intimate interiors, domestic spaces and gardens in soft blurred colours proved a significant influence on her painting style and choice of subject for the rest of her career. Susan was only 18, and still a student, when she first exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Shortly after, she married Martin Bates and spent the next decade juggling the demands of her career with that of her young family, painting both interiors and portraits.
By 1981 her skills as a portrait painter were such that the Prince of Wales commissioned her to paint Diana, Princess of Wales in her wedding dress. In the ensuing three decades her career has been a blizzard of activity. Although well known for her portraits and interiors, it was as a landscape painter that Susan Ryder received her first award. Many prizes followed for both her portraits and interiors, with commissions to paint at fine country houses both in the United Kingdom and further afield. She was elected as a member of both the New English Art Club in 1980 and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 1992, serving the latter as Vice President from 2002 to 2008. Further recognition came in 1997 with a commission to paint HM The Queen from the Royal Automobile Club, in celebration of its centenary.
Susan’s work away from portraiture has proved even more successful, to the extent that the name Susan Ryder now conjures up images of the glorious interiors and sunlit terraces for which she is so well known. She occupies a place amongst the great names of contemporary British Impressionism as represented by the New English Art Club – a society of like-minded artists that can trace its philosophical roots from John Singer Sargent and Augustus John, through Stanley Spencer, to the present day and now includes Ken Howard, Tom Coates, Fred Cuming and Jane Corsellis. As a leading proponent of the New English style, Susan’s paintings remain in constant demand despite the ascendency of conceptualism in the current market and other passing trends.
Susan Ryder divides her time between London and Scotland.
By 1981 her skills as a portrait painter were such that the Prince of Wales commissioned her to paint Diana, Princess of Wales in her wedding dress. In the ensuing three decades her career has been a blizzard of activity. Although well known for her portraits and interiors, it was as a landscape painter that Susan Ryder received her first award. Many prizes followed for both her portraits and interiors, with commissions to paint at fine country houses both in the United Kingdom and further afield. She was elected as a member of both the New English Art Club in 1980 and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 1992, serving the latter as Vice President from 2002 to 2008. Further recognition came in 1997 with a commission to paint HM The Queen from the Royal Automobile Club, in celebration of its centenary.
Susan’s work away from portraiture has proved even more successful, to the extent that the name Susan Ryder now conjures up images of the glorious interiors and sunlit terraces for which she is so well known. She occupies a place amongst the great names of contemporary British Impressionism as represented by the New English Art Club – a society of like-minded artists that can trace its philosophical roots from John Singer Sargent and Augustus John, through Stanley Spencer, to the present day and now includes Ken Howard, Tom Coates, Fred Cuming and Jane Corsellis. As a leading proponent of the New English style, Susan’s paintings remain in constant demand despite the ascendency of conceptualism in the current market and other passing trends.
Susan Ryder divides her time between London and Scotland.
