Robert Medley held several teaching positions in both London and Rome.
15 Facts About Robert Medley
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Robert Medley was educated at Gresham's School in Holt, Norfolk from 1919 to 1923, before briefly attending the Byam Shaw School of Art.
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At Gresham's School Medley was the friend of W H Auden, and first suggested that Auden might write poetry, although Medley did not know at the time that he had this effect.
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In Paris in 1926 Robert Medley met a dancer, Rupert Doone, with whom he lived for the rest of Doone's life.
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Between 1929 and 1934 Robert Medley worked with Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell.
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From 1929 onwards Robert Medley began to exhibit paintings with the London Group.
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In 1931 Robert Medley held his first solo show at the Cooling Galleries in 1931 and began teaching at the Chelsea At School the same year.
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Robert Medley exhibited at the London Artists' Association in 1932 but the majority of his time was spent on design work for the theatre.
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In 1932 he and Doone jointly founded the Group Theatre, for which Robert Medley served as artistic director, either designing the Group's productions himself or supervising designs that included masks by Henry Moore.
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Robert Medley had a painting in the International Surrealist Exhibition in London in 1936 and in 1937 Robert Medley founded the Artists' International Association, AIA, which promoted socialist and avant-garde art.
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At the beginning of the Second World War Robert Medley served as an Air Raid Precautions warden until he was offered a three-month commission by the War Artists' Advisory Committee, WAAC, to go to France to record troop landings for the British Expeditionary Force.
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Robert Medley's appointment was blocked by MI5 who considered him to be "closely associated with subversive Communist doctrine".
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Robert Medley was a visiting lecturer at the Slade and returned there full-time in 1958 as Head of the department of Theatre Design, a post he held until 1966.
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The Cast Room at the Slade inspired Robert Medley to create his 'Antique Room' series of paintings.
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Robert Medley was an important supporter of emerging out gay artists studying at the Slade who included Mario Dubsky and Derek Jarman.