Art and Writing

Pepper, Audrey Amiss (1991)

Model lying on a bed (1950s)

When Audrey died in July 2013, her nephew Steve and niece Kate, discovered in her flat a voluminous and diverse body of art and writing which Audrey had created throughout her life. It consisted of more than 50 thousand artworks in many media as well as diaries, record books, account books, photo albums and scrapbooks of annotated collages of food packaging and other memorabilia.

Steve and Kate were mindful that their aunt had sought recognition and had exhibited her work throughout her career. The siblings appreciated the artistic and cultural value of the collection, and succeeded in finding a home for the entire archive at Wellcome in London.

Throughout her life, Audrey continued to develop her artistic practice. As a schoolgirl and student she produced drawings and paintings in the realist style in which she was trained. Her subjects were friends and family, flora and fauna, landscapes and interiors. Audrey was a successful student at the R.A., winning grants and prizes for her work. She exhibited at the renowned R.A. Summer exhibitions and it is known that she sold some paintings, though the present location of most of these is unknown.

After the R.A., alongside her working life as a shorthand typist, Audrey continued to evolve her art. She experimented with media and more dynamic styles than those she had been trained in. In particular, she would scribble-sketch an image in a matter of seconds, faithfully capturing both the subject's essence and its colours, sometimes filling an entire sketchbook in one sitting. A visit to London Zoo, for example, might yield a batch of swiftly realised pencil drawings including pandas, flamingos and a rhino, instantly recognisable despite their rapidity of execution. Having finished the piece, Audrey would carefully title, sign and date it, taking longer in the annotation than the creation.

Some time in the 1990s, concerned at Audrey's diet of mostly processed food, a health professional recommended she monitor what she ate. Thereafter, Audrey saved all of the wrappings and receipts of her purchases, assembling them in scrapbooks of vivid collages. In neat annotations, she commented on the food she had eaten and the aesthetic qualities of its packaging. Her appreciation of the beauty in everyday objects is evident in the careful arrangements. “Intense colours,” she commented on a cut-up mosaic of a TV guide. An expert in food packaging later observed that Audrey’s scrapbooks represent a trove of historic designs, some of which are possibly unique examples.

Young woman (1950s)

Summer flowers (1982)

Tree over the road (1988)

Crab plant (1996)

Alongside her art, Audrey’s daily routine was also devoted to writing. She sent an average of eight letters a day to family and friends, public figures and institutions. She summarised the contents of her correspondence in a series of record books; assiduously kept track of her spending; wrote diaries. Often her writing consists of a stream of ideas and word-associations. She misidentified people she had seen on the streets as celebrities or people she had known long ago and cited this as evidence of a concealed pattern beneath events. Names which were similar aroused her suspicions and she talked of “breakthroughs” when she recognised hidden connections.

Despite the deceptions caused by her fragile mental health, Audrey’s art was never deluded. The colours she chose for her pictures precisely matched reality: the hues of fruit, vegetables and flowers, for example, are always accurately rendered. The artist’s models at the life-classes she attended are faithfully captured and never distorted. She drew only what she saw and never the non-existent things she sometimes imagined. In her annotations, whatever their content, Audrey never misspells words, she punctuates precisely and her handwriting is always legible.

Since its acquisition by Wellcome Collection in 2014, and the release of Carol Morley’s film in 2023, Audrey's archive has received considerable attention. Wellcome has been able to catalogue it and is in the process of photographing the enormous collection. The varied nature of the packaging in scrapbooks, which even retains crumbs and other organic matter, has necessitated inventive approaches to preservation and storage. These innovations have attracted international scientific attention.

Between 1985 and 2002, Audrey exhibited at some group shows and organised at least six solo exhibitions of her work at venues around London. Following extensive research, these will be recreated in a single exhibition to be held at Wellcome Collection between July 2026 and February 2027 (“Audrey Amiss: The Surviving Exhibitions”). Some time in 2026, a concurrent exhibition of Audrey’s artworks, many with a Sunderland theme, will be held at the Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art in her hometown.