Mildred Bendall was a painter of still life and landscape in a rich, Fauve-style manner and palette, born in Bordeaux to Anglo-French parents. Their wealth enabled her to paint for her pleasure and from the 1930s she led a peculiarly cloistered life, concentrating on painting still lives and the flowers in her garden. She studied in atelier of Felix Carme 1910-14 and had early success, the Union Feminine a Bordeaux and Musee des Beaux-Arts both acquiring works. In 1927-8 she attended the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, Paris and worked closely with Matisse. It was at this time that she discovered her metier was colour, the expressive use of which became her trademark. She was a noted champion of the avant-garde and when the Societe des Artistes Independants was formed in Bordeaux in 1928 Bendall began a close association with it, holding several positions. She exhibited extensively over the years beginning with the Salon des Artistes Francais in Paris in 1919, through the Galerie de Paris 1937 (where she showed with Dufy) to her final exhibition at the Galeries de Fleuve in 1969.
Following her death in Bordeaux in 1977, a large retrospective was held by Societe Artistique de Merignac in 1981. Another notable show was held at Whitford & Hughes in 1987, with Whitford Fine Art adding a retrospective in 1997 and Partridge Fine Art, London holding a further show in 2008. Whitford Fine Art continues to manage her estate. Her work is held by the Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris ('Bouquet', purchased in 1954), the Musee d'art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and the Musee des Beaux-Arts Bordeaux amongst other public collections.
