Portrait of Sandra Fisher, 1993

Maurice Cockrill RA (1936 - 2013)

RA Collection: Art

A distinguished artist and teacher, Maurice Cockrill was Keeper of the Royal Academy Schools betwee 2005 and 2011. Sandra Fisher (1947–1994) was born in New York but moved to London after she met her future husband, R.B. Kitaj, RA. She exhibited widely and received various commissions including one from London Transport to contribute to their Art on the Underground series.

Cockrill has explained that this portrait was painted from life in one afternoon. It was made at a time when they were both painting each other, alternating between their studios, week by week, over a couple of years. Cockrill has written that ‘we were keen to make these representations fresh and immediate, ‘in one breadth’ as it were, hence the brief period of time allowed for each, i.e., before lunch or after lunch.’