Grace Payne-Kumar (b. 1999, HK) is an award-winning artist and international educator. Trained in classical painting in Florence, with a BA in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh, she is currently Artist in Residence at Marlborough College.
Grace begun her training at Charles H. Cecil Studios in Florence, Italy at the age of 18. Following the tradition of Old Masters such as Van Dyck, Titian and Velasquez, using the ‘sight size method’ is central to her practice. Her process involves meeting with the subjects of her painting, painting from life and working with photographs to capture the essence of her sitter.
Grace completed her degree at the University of Edinburgh, where she was selected as a finalist for the Scottish Portrait Awards and won the Member’s Choice Award in 2019, also granting her the commission to paint Lord Justice Clerk, Lady Dorrian. In 2022 it was hung in Parliament Hall on the Royal Mile alongside Raeburn and Sargent’s works, where it remains permanently.
The growing recognition of her work lead to her 2021 exhibition ‘About Face’ held by the Scottish Arts Club, displaying the culmination of her portraits in Florence and Edinburgh. Her second solo exhibition ‘Grace Payne-Kumar: Selected Paintings’ took place at Sarum Studio, Wiltshire in 2022.
Grace was selected as Artist in Residence for Marlborough College in 2023, inspiring the new generation of young artists to paint using the methods of the Old Masters. She currently works at her studio in The Mount House Gallery.
In 2024, Grace unveiled her commission of Jamini Sen, the first female fellow of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow. This painting hangs alongside another Raeburn as part of the college’s permanent collection.
“My goal is to tell people’s stories and provide a snapshot of a moment in time. Capturing the human spirit is something I find endlessly fascinating” Grace says.