Madeleine's mother was French but her Dutch father, Carel Hardes, was an important batik artist, supplying the major Paris and New York fashion houses in the late 1920's. Later she remembers visiting the Romanian sculptor, Constantin Brancusi, in his Paris studio on several occasions. Not only have his sculptures remained fixed in her memory but also the smell of beans, Brancusi's staple diet, boiling away during her visits!

After leaving Singapore to settle in England in the 1970's, Madeleine had a number of solo exhibitions at the Drian Gallery that operated near Marble Arch in London. Following this she exhibited at the Ashgate Gallery in Farnham and the POSK Gallery again in London but has not shown her work for a number of years.

The Harlequin Gallery exhibition will focus on oils painted by Madeleine over the last 20 years or so, together with her collages made using Japanese textured paper and coloured pencil.

Shown alongside the paintings will be a showcase of Japanese ceramics. This will include older work and more recent work, including over a dozen pieces of stoneware by Motoko Wakana.