Renée and Dr Fleming

Acrylic and pencil on sample card. This is the first artwork in a new series of miniatures on old “Raisin in 8 Satiné” sample cards title “Renée and Dr Fleming”. Background; Renée was my grandmother, one of the first of a generation to study fine art at the Slade. She died from septicaemia, caused by a scratch from a tapestry needle in her early 30s when my dad was ten - in 1940. My dad recalled his father, Joseph Tumim, taking him along to doorstep Alexander Fleming at his home in a neighbouring village. Renée’s older brother was a scientist and knew about Fleming’s work with Penicillin and urged Joseph to go and plead for his help. According to my father, Fleming himself came to the door and told my grandfather how terribly sorry he was, but explained that Penicillin was not yet ready for human consumption. Coincidentally, the person who gave us the sample cards was also called Renée