June Mendoza

June Mendoza, AO, OBE, RP, ROI, HonSWA is a British portrait painter, working mainly in oil.[1]

Mendoza's commissions have included portraits of royalty (such as Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Diana, Princess of Wales),[2] prime ministers (Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Corazon Aquino, Goh Chok Tong, John Gorton) and other politicians, sports people, military officers and celebrities.[1][3]

She appeared as a "castaway" on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 8 September 1979,[4] and in 1985 painted the presenter, Roy Plomley.[5]

She is an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), and a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI) and of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters (RP).[6] She is an Honorary Vice President of the Britain-Australia Society.

Her works are in a number of collections, including those of Britannia Royal Naval College, Girton College, Cambridge, the Green Howards Regimental Museum, the National Portrait Gallery (three works[7]), the Open University, the Palace of Westminster, Queens' College, Cambridge, the Royal Scots Museum, and Trinity College, Oxford.[8]

Early life

Born in Melbourne, Australia, June's parents were both musicians, John Morton and Dot (née Mendoza), performers and composers in violin and piano respectively. As a child she toured with her mother, working in small mime parts and crowd scenes for the opera, ballet, musicals and revue. During these tours she started sketching in her spare time.[9]

She realised that art was her calling at age 12 and commenced life classes at 14 and portraiture eventually became her forté.

In 1960 she married Keith Mackrell, who she accompanied on two overseas postings, 1960 - 1965 in the Philippines and 1969 - 1973 in Australia. They have 4 children.

DVD

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lange, Oliver (November 2000). "June Mendoza - Body Language". The Artist.
  2. ↑ "Video: Queen's Diamond Jubilee interview: The royal portrait painter". The Daily Telegraph. 22 May 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  3. ↑ "Portrait Artist June Mendoza - Information". June Mendoza. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "Desert Island Discs - Castaway : June Mendoza". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  5. ↑ "Roy Francis Plomley by June Mendoza". Your Paintings. BBC. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  6. ↑ "June Mendoza". Royal Institute of Oil Painters. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  7. ↑ "National Portrait Gallery - Person - June Mendoza". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  8. ↑ "June Mendoza - Paintings". Your Paintings. BBC. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  9. ↑ "June Mendoza - website". Retrieved 26 January 2015.

External links