Julian Trevelyan: Low Tide, 1974

Julian Trevelyan (1910–1988) read English at Cambridge and then moved to Paris to learn etching, working alongside Ernst, Picasso and Kokoschka. In 1935 Trevelyan returned to London and bought Durham Wharf on Chiswick Mall. In 1951 he married Mary Fedden and their house became a hub of artistic activity. Together, they travelled the world. Meanwhile the Thames remained a source of great inspiration for both. The image we have chosen shows an intaglio print on paper of the river Thames at low tide as seen from Durham Wharf. The chimneys provide a reminder of the industrial activity that until recently took place along the river.

Trevelyan was heavily influenced by the Surrealists, and taught at the Royal College of Art, where pupils included David Hockney and Norman Ackroyd. In 1987 he was appointed a Royal Academician.

In November 2016 a sale was held at Sotheby’s to raise funds for the Wharf to be restored as an artistic centre for future generations. Proceeds from the sale will go towards the million-pound project to restore and develop the studios at Durham Wharf by recent Turner prize-winning architects, Assemble. The redevelopment will ensure that the place in which Fedden and Trevelyan lived and worked for many years remains a haven for a new generation of artists – whose work includes architecture, sculpture, photography, filmmaking and textile development. Thus the riverside studios will perfectly commemorate a couple who rarely missed an opportunity to bring together people and their ideas. Needless to say, the mural team supports this aim wholeheartedly.

Acknowledgement: The Estate of Julian Trevelyan ©Tate, London 2017