A pioneering force in British abstraction who redefined the relationship between architecture and the canvas, Tess Jaray died on May 24, 2026, at the age of 88. She was a prolific painter and printmaker, but she was perhaps most historically significant as the first woman to join the teaching staff at the Slade School of Fine Art, where she mentored generations of artists. Her life and work were governed by a singular pursuit: the exploration of space as both a physical structure and a psychological sanctuary. This obsession was rooted in her earliest years as a refugee. Born in Vienna to Franz Ferdinand Jaray and Pauline Arndt, she fled Nazi-occupied Austria with her family in 1938. They eventually settled in rural Worcestershire, but the initial displacement created a permanent tension in her life. She later realized that her drive to create structured environments was a way to define and protect the self in a world that had once been pulled out from under her.

After studying at Saint Martin's School of Art, Jaray attended the Slade School of Fine Art from 1957 to 1960, where she was influenced by the art historian Ernst Gombrich. While her early studio work was intimate, her perspective shifted radically during a 1960 trip to Italy funded by an Abbey Minor Travelling Scholarship. Encountering the Renaissance architecture of Brunelleschi and Alberti provided her with a geometric vocabulary that she would utilize for the next sixty years. She described this experience as a door into paradise, noting that she wanted to make space, to make something that a viewer could disappear into. This period also marked her marriage to Marc Vaux in 1960, a union that lasted until their divorce in 1982, though her focus remained steadfastly on the development of her craft.

Jaray’s influence as an educator was defined by her thirty-year tenure at the Slade, where she broke barriers as the first female lecturer. She maintained a remarkable vitality in the classroom, often stating that her favorite art was young art, created before cynicism or cool had set in. She loved watching young artists searching for what they wanted to say, seeing the educational environment as another form of essential, generative space. Her own work eventually moved from the confines of the canvas into the public sphere. In 1985, she was commissioned to design a major terrazzo floor for the forecourt of Victoria Station in London. This was followed by a comprehensive decorative scheme for Centenary Square in Birmingham, which included paving, railings, and lamps. These projects forced the public to walk inside her art, transforming the urban experience into a tactile encounter with geometry. As noted by The Guardian, she also designed a patterned brick precinct for Wakefield Cathedral, further integrating her abstract vision into the fabric of British cities.

Her intellectual range was further demonstrated through her collaboration with the German writer W.G. Sebald on the book For Years Now, where her minimalist prints were paired with his poetry. This partnership highlighted her belief that while paintings cannot be fully explained, they can be circled around until the viewer gets closer to their mystery. Her contributions were recognized with an honorary doctorate from the University of the Arts London and her election as a Royal Academician, as recorded by the Royal Academy of Arts. Jaray will be remembered for her unique ability to make the cerebral feel physical. She transformed the cold logic of geometry into a warm, protective embrace, leaving behind a legacy of public spaces and private canvases that offer a permanent refuge from the chaos of the world.