Mary Martin (1907 – 1969)
View all Artists- Biography: Born in Folkestone, Mary Martin studied at Goldsmiths’ College and the Royal College of Art, where she met her husband Kenneth Martin, also an artist and sculptor. After her studies, she worked first as a painter and rug designer (as Mary Balmford) and also taught. In the late1940s she moved towards abstraction and started to make reliefs and constructions. Martin was the joint winner of the1969 John Moores Painting Prize along with Richard Hamilton. She was the first woman to receive that prize. The wall construction was commissioned by the University Art Committee for the new Pathfoot building canteen. This turned out to be her last public commission and she sadly died before it was installed.