Ted Faiers estate

b. 1908, Cornwall, England, d. 1985, Memphis, TN
A painter worth his salt will beat his own path…and not the derriere of the avant garde.
Reclining Red Figure
Reclining Red Figure

Acclaimed modernist Ted Faiers created thousands of paintings, drawings and woodcuts throughout his artistic career spent in Canada, New York and Memphis. While his estate spans several distinctive periods, harmonious colors and spiritual rhythms pervade his landscapes and still lifes, narrative drawings, minimalist abstractions and sculptural paintings. Faiers’ earliest work from the 1940s are western landscapes reminiscent of Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton. While enrolled at New York’s Art Students League in the early 1950s he created mainly studio paintings - still lifes, portraits and street scenes - with a limited palate and a modernist technique. Under the influence of lifelong friend, famed painter Will Barnet, and other abstractionists, his work from the mid-1950s combines abstract sensibilities with primitive philosophies and highly defined, flattened forms. Those shapes became very minimal and fluid in the early 1960s and shortly thereafter morphed into stylized figures. With the advent of pop art in the later 1960s, Faiers’ figures became more pictorial and narrative with a cartoonish sensibility. Finally, in the mid-1970s, he constructed eccentric sculptural paintings on intricately constructed substrates with body parts protruding right off the canvas. Faiers’ trove of work is a revelatory journey through 20th-century American modernism.

Born in England in 1908 and raised in Western Canada, Ted Faiers studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts and the Department of Extension, University of Alberta in Canada and at the Art Students League in New York. He taught at Memphis College of Art for 30 years while leading a prolific studio practice. He completed public commissions for Memphis in May and First Tennessee Bank and had a strong exhibition history throughout his life. His work is in the collections of Alberta Art Foundation, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock; AT&T Collection, Chicago; Baker Donelson, Memphis; Butler Snow Law Firm, Jackson, MS and Memphis; First Tennessee Bank, Memphis; Hyde Foundation, Memphis; Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis; Methodist Hospital, Memphis; nexAir, Memphis; Suntrust Bank, Memphis; Canadian National Railway, Montreal; and Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, among others.

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Reclining Red Figure
Reclining Red Figure
Seated Woman with Red Screen
Seated Woman with Red Screen
Woman with a Book
Woman with a Book
Woman Reading at a Table
Woman Reading at a Table
Yellow, Green, Blue Figure
Yellow, Green, Blue Figure
Big Red Figure
Big Red Figure
The Sacrifice
The Sacrifice
The Actress
The Actress
The Garden At Allison's Wells
The Garden At Allison's Wells
Danse Macabre
Danse Macabre
Ceremony at Dawn
Ceremony at Dawn
Allison's Wells
Allison's Wells
All Modern Conveniences
All Modern Conveniences
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled (11475)
Untitled (11475)
Untitled D394
Untitled D394
Untitled (Orange)
Untitled (Orange)
Woodland Fantasy
Woodland Fantasy
Moonlight Encounter
Moonlight Encounter
Green Line
Green Line
Mockingbird Moon
Mockingbird Moon
Three Calligraphic Images
Three Calligraphic Images
Autumn Sun
Autumn Sun
Blow Gabriel Blow
Blow Gabriel Blow
Athlete
Athlete
Vive La France
Vive La France
Waterfall Four
Waterfall Four
The Beast
The Beast
Woman Seated in Wrought Iron Chair
Woman Seated in Wrought Iron Chair
Two Young Women
Two Young Women
Mr. Big
Mr. Big
The Swinging Bride
The Swinging Bride
Two Standing Women
Two Standing Women
Positively Ya
Positively Ya
Singer with Mike
Singer with Mike
The Lookout
The Lookout
The Three Graces
The Three Graces
Lovers
Lovers
The Big Swinger
The Big Swinger
 Buttercup
Buttercup
The Crowded Way
The Crowded Way
A Young Prince
A Young Prince
Tahiti Tahiti
Tahiti Tahiti
The Long Journey
The Long Journey
Lizzie
Lizzie
The Sweet Heart
The Sweet Heart
Two Magpies
Two Magpies
Bellevue
Bellevue
Crow's Nest, Mountainside
Crow's Nest, Mountainside
Reclining Red Figure
Reclining Red Figure
oil on canvas, 16x20
1951
Seated Woman with Red Screen
Seated Woman with Red Screen
oil on canvas, 17x21
1951
Woman with a Book
Woman with a Book
oil on canvas, 17x21
1952
Woman Reading at a Table
Woman Reading at a Table
oil on canvas, 17x21
1951-52
Yellow, Green, Blue Figure
Yellow, Green, Blue Figure
oil on canvas, 21x24
1952
Big Red Figure
Big Red Figure
oil on canvas,20x26
1951-52
The Sacrifice
The Sacrifice
oil on canvas, 25x36
1953
The Actress
The Actress
woodcut, 12.75x15.75
1953
The Garden At Allison's Wells
The Garden At Allison's Wells
oil on canvas, 21x36
1954
Danse Macabre
Danse Macabre
oil on canvas, 40x49
1954
Ceremony at Dawn
Ceremony at Dawn
oil on canvas, 24x32
1955
Allison's Wells
Allison's Wells
oil on canvas, 26x34
1955
All Modern Conveniences
All Modern Conveniences
oil on canvas, 36x28
1955
Untitled
Untitled
ink on paper, 11.5x14.75
1955
Untitled (11475)
Untitled (11475)
gouache on paper, 9x9.5
1956
Untitled D394
Untitled D394
gouache on paper, 14x10.5
1956
Untitled (Orange)
Untitled (Orange)
oil on canvas, 20x24
c. 1956
Woodland Fantasy
Woodland Fantasy
oil on canvas, 40x32
1956
Moonlight Encounter
Moonlight Encounter
woodcut, 21x29
1958
Green Line
Green Line
oil on cavnas, 33.25x27
1958
Mockingbird Moon
Mockingbird Moon
woodcut, 19.5x24
1959
Three Calligraphic Images
Three Calligraphic Images
woodcut, 24.5x16.5
1959
Autumn Sun
Autumn Sun
woodcut, 14x18
1960
Blow Gabriel Blow
Blow Gabriel Blow
woodcut, 24.5x13.75
1960
Athlete
Athlete
oil on canvas, 49x39.5
1960
Vive La France
Vive La France
oil on canvas, 49x38.5
1960
Waterfall Four
Waterfall Four
oil on canvas, 50x40
1960
The Beast
The Beast
woodcut, 17x24
1961
Woman Seated in Wrought Iron Chair
Woman Seated in Wrought Iron Chair
woodcut, 24x14
1961
Two Young Women
Two Young Women
woodcut, 20x28
1963
Mr. Big
Mr. Big
woodcut, 22.5x16
1963
The Swinging Bride
The Swinging Bride
woodcut, 68x25
1963
Two Standing Women
Two Standing Women
woodcut, 21x13
1963
Positively Ya
Positively Ya
woodcut, 68x25
1963
Singer with Mike
Singer with Mike
woodcut, 20x28
c. 1964
The Lookout
The Lookout
lithograph, 15x10
1965
The Three Graces
The Three Graces
woodcut, 19x21.5
1965
Lovers
Lovers
woodcut, 16.25x24
1967
The Big Swinger
The Big Swinger
woodcut, 22.5x17.5
1968
 Buttercup
Buttercup
woodcut, 10x12
1975
The Crowded Way
The Crowded Way
woodcut, 19.5x27
1975
A Young Prince
A Young Prince
woodcut, 27x18.75
1975
Tahiti Tahiti
Tahiti Tahiti
woodcut, 24x17.5
1975
The Long Journey
The Long Journey
woodcut, 27x19
1975
Lizzie
Lizzie
woodcut, 21.5x14.5
1976
The Sweet Heart
The Sweet Heart
woodcut, 10.5x7
1980
Two Magpies
Two Magpies
oil on masonite, 11x13
1948
Bellevue
Bellevue
oil on masonite, 11x14
1949
Crow's Nest, Mountainside
Crow's Nest, Mountainside
oil on canvas on masonite, 12x16
1959

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