Ann Finlayson (6 November 1941 - 10 June 1999) was an English painter, draughtsperson and teacher. She worked as an assistant to Bridget Riley and Peter Sedgley from 1969 to 1971. She was best known for her abstract watercolours.
Ann Elizabeth Finlayson was born in Glasgow, the daughter of artist Helen Hay. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art in 1960, the Kingston School of Art from 1960 to 1964 and the Royal College of Art from 1965 to 1968. She won the E. Q. Henriques gift at the Royal College of Art in 1968 and the Daler-Rowney watercolour award at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1984. She married ceramicist John Barham Adams in Surrey, England in 1995.
Finlayson worked as an assistant to Bridget Riley and Peter Sedgley between 1969 and 1971. She worked as an assistant to Alistair Grant in 1971 and assisted Leonard Rosoman with large scale murals from 1972 to 1974. She worked as an assistant to Ken Baynes, an exhibition consultant for the Welsh Arts Council, from 1972 to 1976.
1969 â New Art Centre, Sloane Street<br/> 1975 â Triad Gallery<br/> 1976 â Oxford Gallery, London<br/> 1982 â Stirling Gallery<br/> 1985 â Adam Gallery, London<br/> 1997 â Thornton Bevan Arts, London
1985 â Artists Against Apartheid<br/> 1994 â London Guildhall University<br/> 1974 â Oxford Gallery<br/> 2019 â âÂÂWorks on paperâ Trent Art Gallery, Newcastle Under Lyme
Finlayson had the following works selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition:<br/> 1970: Exploding Rectangle<br/> 1972: Maze, Release and Volcano<br/> 1973: Silent Spaces, Bands of Time and Metamorphosis<br/> 1974: Black Diamond Vortex<br/> 1975: Wind and Reflection<br/> 1976: Waves<br/> 1980: Tapestry<br/> 1981: Pools<br/> 1982: Sunlit Flower and Tulip<br/> 1983: Four Objects<br/> 1984: Sea Edge and Sea Horizon<br/> 1985: Window 1 <br/> 1987: The Child is Mother of the Woman (ink, charcoal, pastel)
Her work is held privately and in the following public collections:
Adams was diagnosed with multi-system atrophy, similar to Parkinson's disease, in 1995. She was told she had between five and ten years to live. Unable to create art and finding it âÂÂdifficult to come to terms with her illnessâ she committed suicide on 10 June 1999, age 57. Together with a suicide note, she left âÂÂliterature about voluntary euthanasia.â Following her death, Finlayson's husband lodged a formal complaint with the government, calling for a âÂÂradical improvement in arrangements between police detectives, officers and surgeonsâ in order to reduce stress on the bereaved.