An Exhibition of work by the late Sam Zwemmer

An Exhibition of work by the late Sam Zwemmer



Free entry to Foyer Gallery between 10am - 4pm Monday - Sat.


Sam Zwemmer (1945-2013)

Sam was born in London and grew up in the bohemian post war world of Hampstead where her mother, a dancer, for some years ran the Hampstead Ballet Club in Heath Street.
Sam herself abandoned dance at age seven having decided that art, her father’s profession, was her real inherited talent. Luckily she was indulged in this even to the extent of being allowed to paint murals on several walls at home the vibrancy of which clearly predicted her life long love affair with pure bright colours.

On leaving school, Sam trained and worked briefly in display before developing a talent for painting in her late teens which led her to set up a small shop selling painted furniture in Hampstead Antique Emporium in London. She developed a life long interest in antiques and furniture and continued to paint for the antique trade until the late 1990s.

Largely self taught, she also became adept in Trompe l’Oeil and specialist paint finishes which inevitably led to a dual career as an interior designer, decorator and muralist.

It was however while painting a commissioned, 3 metre long, twelve door cupboard unit with botanical studies copied from the Florilegium of Joseph Banks, that Sam discovered an amazing ability and love of painting flowers.

In response to this she started working on canvas and then concentrated the majority of her work in this area.

While her work does not obviously fall into the category of botanical painting, their presentation and proportion is highly unusual for that genre, she made every effort to produce to that standard of accuracy. This was essential to her and she researched her subjects in depth.

Coupled with that essential precept however is her individuality of style which, so valued by commissioning customers in the decorating and antiques world, resulted in an unusually light hearted approach to botanical painting while still retaining the necessary attention to detail with both nuance of colour and brushwork that is superb.

Sadly Sam died of lung cancer in September 2013.

You can purchase prints and cards of Sam's work from the Box Office or via the website here.



Blackfriars undoubtedly plays a very important role as Boston's centre for entertainment and the arts. It is home to two very successful local amateur dramatic and operatic groups, as well as hosting a varied program of professional stage productions.