BRAY, Phyllis

Phyllis Bray (1911-1991) was a painter, illustrator, muralist and collector, born in Norwood, London. She was married for several years to the painter John Cooper (co-founder of The East London Group), until the marriage was dissolved (early work sometimes signed Phyllis M(ary) Cooper), their daughter being the artist Philippa Cooper, then married Eric Phillips. Her father was William de Bray, who had been attaché to Maria Fyodorovna, mother of the murdered Tsar Nicholas II. As a child she wanted to be an artist and claimed to be the youngest scholarship student at the Slade School of Fine Art when she joined it, was a favourite of Henry Tonks and was a certificate, prize and diploma winner, attending 1927–31. In the mid-1920s Cooper spearheaded formation of the East London Group of painters with which Phyllis Bray was closely involved.