Maggi Hambling’s Rejection Letter: “The other girls called the studies a mess and laughed at them”

Art began for me at the age of 14. There was an art exam and I did nothing but flick paint at people and generally draw attention to myself because I was deeply in love with the biology mistress who was invigilating. I suddenly noticed it was twenty past three and at half-past we had to hand in our paintings. So in a carefree fashion, I did one. I chose the subject ‘Laziness’ and painted a woman lying on a chaise longue with a half-open book she wasn’t looking at because she was too lazy to read. Three weeks later the results came out and I had come top.

Here was a strange business: it seemed that I was good at something without having to try. I began to take it seriously. I remember staying up until two or three in the morning painting the night sky from my bedroom window. It was exciting and I used a lot of Prussian blue which my art tutor Yvonne Drewry had said was the most dangerous colour.

I took these studies to school the next day. Yvonne Drewry came into the classroom to find me in tears because the other girls had called the studies a mess and laughed at them. She took me to one side and told me that I should take no notice and that other people’s reactions should be like water off a duck’s back. As Oscar Wilde said, “When the critics are divided the artist is at one with himself”. Six decades later I am once again painting the night sky and night clouds.