Edward (Ted) May Australia, 1939-.

Born at West Ryde, NSW on the 27 January 1939 (Ted) Edward John May attended State Schools and did the required National Service Training. Enrolling as a part-time evening student at East Sydney Technical College (NAS) under Wallace Thornton, John Passmore, Godfrey Millar, John Coburn and John Olsen. He held numerous work positions at The Sun Herald Newspaper and Sydney Supreme court until graduating with a Diploma of Fine Art in 1963. He taught at Auburn High School and later became a life drawing teacher/lecturer at East Sydney Technical College (NAS), Kogarah and Newcastle Art Schools. He travelled extensively throughout Europe, South America, Central and Northern America, working 6 months in Mexico with Gilberto Acceves Navarro, and a further 18 months in the USA. In 1974 he returned to Australia/Melbourne and resumed lecturing at RMIT, VCA, and Monash (Caulfield) Art School Campus. In 1987 he enlisted fellow artists and associated art workers to form The Melbourne Arts Club (MAC) and retired from its directorship in 1991 to concentrate entirely on his art practise. His work bridges many historical classifications and transcend any contemporary taxonomic interpretation while combining many of arts past movements, that are aligned with the Epimetheus of art practises, acknowledging what went before he concentrated on developing a style of painting that was unique and idiosyncratic. Cubism, abstract Expressionism and Pop Art stand out, yet he is best known amongst his peers for his nude figure drawings and knowledge obtained from Passmore and Millar of the human figure’s mechanism. In developing his individual style of painting, he portrayed the undergrowth of bushlands, along with the aftermath of bush fires. Early expressionistic works were robustly painted, with the pallet knife, while the later brush-worked paintings convey flat overlayed pattens for spatial significance. On a large format, these recent works are landscape orientated with the image of corrugated iron being a most dominate feature, the composition undergoes a continuous transformation as ideas crystallise, eventually ending with an image that is challenging and enriching to viewer. The average price in 2021 for an oil painting 160 x 213cms sold for $17,600. However, there is a lighter side to Ted May for when he turns his attention to Portraits, he executes them without the subject sitting. This allows him to instinctively follow his inner feelings and the knowledge he has of the subject. His paintings can be found in Art Uk, The National Gallery of Victoria, Australian Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Conrad Jupiter Casino, Chartwell Collection - Hamilton N Z, University of Melbourne, Peter MacCallum Cancer Clinic, La Trobe University, Paul Dainty Corporation, and Western Australia Institute of Technology, Heide MOMA, Ballarat Art Gallery, Owen Dixon Chambers in Melbourne, Perc Tucker Gallery Townsville, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust – Stratford upon Avon, ANL Melbourne, Hilton Hotel, BHP Melbourne, and more, He has held over 40 one-person exhibitions and of these the major shows were held at the Institute of Modern Art Brisbane, Kim Bonython Gallery' Sydney, Solander Gallery Canberra, Robin Gibson Gallery Sydney, Niagara Gallery Melbourne, Rudy Koman Gallery Sydney, BMG 2nd Contemporary Art Fair 1990 and Barberino val D’Elsa Florence Italy. Gallerysmith, Melbourne, Elysium Melbourne, and many more. In addition, he has shown in more than 50 group exhibitions that include Dobell Art Prize, Sulman Art Prize, Wynne Art Prize, Inter Art Gallery Reich in Cologne, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Helena Rubenstein Prize, Bradford Cotton Mills Prize -Maitland, ANL maritime Prize, Waterhouse Natural History Prize, Dominique Segan Drawing prize, Gallipoli Memorial Art Prize, X Strata Portrait Prize, Doug Moran Portrait Prize, Benalla Nude, Geelong Contemporary Prize, and many more. [Supplied by the artist]

Our database records art auction sales of works by Ted May from 1990 and in total 9 works by the artist have been offered for sale, of which 6 (67%) were sold. No works have been offered for sale this year, and the last sale we have recorded for the artist was in 2022. Works by Ted May are held by the Heide Museum of Modern Art, National Gallery of Victoria and a further two major public national galleries (see list below).