British painter Susan Ryder began painting professionally at an early age. Encouraged by her father, Robert Ryder VC, an enthusiastic amateur painter who imbued his daughter with a similar passion, she entered the prestigious Byam Shaw School of Art.
There, her tutor, Bernard Dunstan, introduced her to the work of the post- Impressionist Edouard Vuillard, whose gentle scenes of intimate interiors, domestic spaces and gardens in soft blurred colours proved a significant influence on her painting style and choice of subject for the rest of her career.
Sue was only 18, and still a student, when she first exhibited at the Royal Academy. Shortly after, she married Martin Bates and spent the next decade juggling the demands of her career with that of her young family, painting both interiors and portraits.