A SILSDEN artist who married a famous German cellist has died at the age of 87.

Doris Schrecker travelled across Europe with husband Bruno painting landscapes as she went.

Silsden arts enthusiast Colin Neville, who curates the 'Not Just Hockney' website for artists in Bradford district, has carried out research into Doris’s life.

She was born Doris Wilkinson in Silsden in 1930 and attended Keighley Girls Grammar School.

She went on to study art, first at Skipton Art School then gaining a scholarship in 1950 to study at the Slade School of Fine Art in London.

During her travels with Bruno the cellist was tutored by Pablo Casals in southern France where his wife painted the landscape of the region.

On her return to Britain in 1955 Doris exhibited her paintings and textile collage artwork widely, including at the Geffrye Museum in London.

She was also commissioned to design ten large fabric hangings for the Park Lane Hilton ballroom in London.

Her first solo art show in Yorkshire was held in the former Keighley museum in Victoria Park in 1957, and a second show in Keighley, at Cliffe Castle in 1970, included paintings and fabric collages.

After more travels, Doris returned to Yorkshire in 2001 and worked from her home and studio near Skipton, painting predominantly portraits, still life and landscape scenes. In 2008 she retired to Shrewbury, where she died.

Mr Neville said: "Doris’s paintings are characterised by a warm and strong use of colour, influenced by her time in southern France; her artwork certainly deserves to be better known.

“Her family are hoping to organise an exhibition in Shrewsbury, her retirement home for the last nine years of her life.

"But it would be good to show her work locally too, and her family would like that, as Doris had a lifelong affinity with Yorkshire."

Visit notjusthockney.info for examples of Doris’s work.

Bruno Schrecker was born in Frankfurt-Am-Main in 1928 and moved with his family to Britain just before the Second World War.

In 1953 he was awarded a French government scholarship to study with Pablo Casals.

He went on to play with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra under Szymon Goldberg, and formed the Oromonte String Trio to perform chamber concerts.

He joined the renowned Allegri String Quartet in 1967, making it the central platform for his performing and recording life for many years.

Bruno retired from the Quartet in 1998, but continue to visit Chetham's School to give master classes.