Lena Elizabeth Tarpley

Lena Elizabeth Tarpley, was, undoubtedly, a very capable artist. She was also one of the many thousands of women artists who continued to study and paint for all their lives, but about whom little is known.
Tarpley lived and worked in Bushey, Hertfordshire. She became a member of the Watford and Bushey Art Society, which had been formed in 1921. In fact, this was an area where artists had gathered for many years.
Like many women, whose life was governed by domestic demands, Tarpley painted what was around her: landscapes, still lives, self-portraits and portraits of Neville, her husband. She was not commenting on or criticising her environment, nor was she self-consciously investing it with powerful meaning. Instead, Tarpley is one of those artists who provide a consistent, affectionate accompaniment to our everyday lives, reaffirming and enriching our daily experience, reminding us to look at the world and relish it.
Tarpley was commissioned by firms such as Cadbury’s to produce designs for chocolate boxes; she also produced images which were reproduced as lithographs and used in products such as calendars.
Lena Tarpley was much more than just a competent artist. She was not particularly experimental in her approach, nor was she a philosopher. But she worked hard and consistently and, in so doing, enormously enriched – with colour and delight – the everyday lives of thousands, even millions, of people.