Annette Rowdon was born Annette Fischer into a Jewish family in Berlin, Germany in 1931 but grew up in America. She studied sculpture at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome (1954–56), afterwards enrolling at the Central School of Art in London (1957). She was known primarily as a sculptor in bronze, plaster, clay, stone and marble and her portrait sitters included Russian-born artist Marevna. She was also interested in dance, producing work focused on ballet, as well as an extensive series on the classical Indian dancer and choreographer, Pandit Ram Gopal, who was also a close friend.
Sculptor and graphic artist Annette Rowdon was born Annette Fischer into a Jewish family in Berlin, Germany on 16 October 1931 but grew up in America. She studied German literature at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, before moving to Italy, where she studied sculpture at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome (1954–56), afterwards moving to England and enrolling at the Central School of Art in London (1957). She held a residency at Wilson College, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania (1978) and in 1983 received a grant from the West German Academic Exchange Program (DAAD) to work at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien Centre in Kreuzberg, Berlin (1983), where she also held an exhibition. For one semester a year, she was Assistant Professor of art at Marlboro College, Vermont (1980–85), before studying for a teacher's certificate in London, eventually teaching sculpture at Chelsea School of Art and the Leisure Centre, Hammersmith. She subsequently lived for several months each year in Pietrasanta, Italy, where she worked, taught and supervised the casting of her bronzes.
Rowdon was known primarily as a sculptor in bronze, plaster, clay, stone and marble. She also produced works on paper to which she brought the same feeling for forms, with the freedom of mark balanced by the judicious application of limited colour, as exemplified by the monoprint Spiral (1985, Ben Uri Collection). Rowdon’s portrait busts included Russian-born émigré artist Marevna (1973, private collection), Sir Robert Mayer (1980) and Sir David Willcocks (1984, both the Royal College of Music), publisher Samuel Fischer (National Museum, Marbach). She was also interested in dance, producing work focused on ballet, as well as an extensive series on the classical Indian dancer and choreographer Pandit Ram Gopal, who was also a close friend; her other works often had a spiritual dimension.
In 1966 Rowdon and her husband, the philosopher, playwright and novelist Maurice Rowdon, bought a farmhouse with 20 acres of land in the countryside near San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy. The following year she held her first UK exhibition at the Alwin Gallery, London (1967), which featured fragmented figures, including a split torso and a a headless, one-wing angel of the annunciation. Further solo shows included Galerie Aix, Stockholm (1977), Comfort Gallery, Haverford, Pennsylvania (1978) and the Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin-Kreuzberg in 1983. In 1985 Rowdon showed alongside Polish émigré, Stanislaw Frenkiel in Paintings by Stanisław Frenkiel, Peter MacKarell and Sculptures by Annette Rowdon at the Jablonski Gallery in London. She also held two joint exhibitions at Ben Uri, both with fellow emigre artists: the first in 1979 with American artist Edward Toledano, and the second in 1986, with the German-born painter Peter Baer, displaying 21 sculptures and ceramics in a variety of media at the latter. Rowdon also participated in Ben Uri's open exhibitions in 1979 and 1985. She published a short article in 1985 on Lithuanian-born émigré artist, Elena Gaputyte in the Women Artists Slide Library Journal published by The Women's Art Library. Four years before her death she also exhibited at Livorno, Italy in 1992.
Annette Rowdon died in London, England on 28 May 1996. Her work is represented in UK public collections including Ben Uri Collection and the Royal College of Music, London.
Annette Rowdon in the Ben Uri collection
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Annette Rowdon]
Publications related to [Annette Rowdon] in the Ben Uri Library