Career
Although he became best known as a publisher, he saw himself primarily as an artist whose business activities existed to support his painting. Oscar Mellor was born and educated in Manchester, moving to Birmingham with his family in 1939 and serving in the Royal Air Force during World World War World War II Moving to Oxford in 1948 to continue his studies at The Ruskin, he briefly went into business with Conroy Maddox before establishing himself as a publisher and photographer in Swinford, Oxfordshire, founding the Fantasy Press in 1951 and producing regular photographic work for Oxford Playhouse. From 1969 until 1973 he was a lecturer in photography at Exeter College of Art, after which he returned full-time to painting until shortly before his death in 2005.
