Tess Jaray was the elder of the two daughters of Jewish parents, Franz Ferdinand Jaray, a chemical engineer and inventor, and Pauli née Arndt, a former fashion student. Tess was educated at the Alice Ottley School in Worcester, which, according to Sewell, “intended to suppress her European roots, to render her English”. Her essay series, Thinking on Paper, 2021, coincided with her solo exhibition in the city of her birth, Return to Vienna: The Paintings of Tess Jaray at the Secession building. Jaray worked diligently in her studio in the daylight hours, resisting turning on the light, which she felt negated colour. ​Tess Jaray: born December 31, 1937.