The work of an artist who was the great-aunt of a Budleigh Salterton resident is currently on show at a solo exhibition in London.
Peter Walker remembers visiting his grandmother in Hertfordshire when he was a child, and seeing paintings by her sister, Madeline Green, hanging on the dining room walls.
He particularly liked one of the paintings, depicting his grandmother's back garden, and it now hangs on the wall of the house where he and his wife Carole live in Budleigh Salterton.
The couple became increasingly interested in Madeline Green, and managed to track down and buy two of her watercolours when they came up for auction. They continued researching her life and art, and Mrs Walker has now written a book about her for the current exhibition.
Madeline Green was born in 1884 and trained at the Royal Academy. She spent most of her life in Ealing, and produced a large number of works - not only paintings, but also drawings in charcoal and pen and ink, and etchings. Five art galleries across the country own her paintings, and so does the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.
Mrs Walker said: "Madeline is one of the countless number of women artists whose brilliant artwork has been overlooked by the art establishment.
"Madeline's paintings were unique. She painted herself, dressed up in different costumes, using a mirror. Sometimes she painted herself as a male coster (fruit and veg seller), looking straight out of the canvas, challenging the viewer."
Rupert Maas, the picture dealer, writer and broadcaster known for his appearances on Antiques Roadshow, is a great admirer of Madeline Green.
He exhibits her paintings at his Maas Gallery in London, and has written a foreword to Mrs Walker's book.
He said: "Her pictures are haunting, backlit visions from a strange, bloodless interior world, painted exquisitely, with wry humour. There is no-one else like her. Where has she been all our lives?"
The current exhibition is at the Gunnersbury Park and Museum near Ealing, until May 25.
Carole Walker's book, Reflections of an artist, Madeline Green, containing images of Madeline Green's portfolio of work, is available from Wolds Publishing.
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