Ethel Walker
Dame Ethel Walker
Early life
Walker was born on 9 June 1861 in Edinburgh,[11] the younger child of Arthur Abney Walker (a Yorkshireman) and his second wife, Isabella (née Robertson), a Scot.[12] Her father was from a family of iron founders.[13] Her secondary education was at Brondesbury in London, where she was taught drawing by Hector Caffierti.
Following secondary school, Walker attended the Ridley School of Art.
Professional art career
Walker produced a large body of works from different genres, to include flowers, seascapes, landscapes and mythical subjects. Her influences included Greek and Renaissance art, as well as Chinese painting and Taoist philosophy. She also took interest in the female form. Walker is best known for her portraits of the female form, paying particular attention to the detail of the sitter's/model's expression and individual temperament. Her obvious, tactical brush strokes obscure unnecessary details, thereby allowing her to emphasize the aspects of the mood of the moment.[14]
Walker was a supporter of the natural female form, often publicly rebuking other women for wearing makeup and heavy clothing that hid their form. Her models were never allowed to wear makeup, lipstick, or nail polish during sittings.[14] She painted a series of works that reflected mythological themes, and several works depicting nude female models.
In one piece, titled Invocation, Walker used 25 female models, all either scantly clad or nude, kneeling around three female models who are wearing sheer cloth.[14] Birds are depicted fluttering overhead in the painting. It is considered her most detailed piece.[17]
Walker's works throughout her career seemed to capture the human spirit while celebrating the beauty of the female body. The art produced by Walker, who died in London, did have a positive and thought-provoking impact on art as a whole. Her art is regularly displayed in exhibits at many galleries, most notably The Gatehouse Gallery in
As a portraitist, Walker’s subjects varied from casual acquaintances to close friends and associates. Walker painted fellow artists
Personal life
Walker was regarded as an especially social artist, living for many years in her studio at Cheyne Walk, Chelsea,
Walker was disapproving of cosmetics, and was known to rebuke women in public on account of their makeup. She required her models to remove lipstick and nail polish before entering her studio.[12] One friend recollected: ‘She executed commissions when she liked the look of the would-be sitters but before painting her women she would say “Take that filthy stuff off your lips” for, always faithful to the motif, she could not tolerate the sudden assault of red upon an eye so sensitive to tone'.[22] Speaking to the art dealer Lillian Browse, Walker stated, 'if you take that filthy stuff off your face [lipstick] I would like to paint a portrait of you'.[39]
In her eighties, Walker befriended the Polish artist Marian Kratochwil, who had fled occupied Europe and arrived penniless in London in 1947.
Exhibitions
Walker exhibited widely during her lifetime, and achieved considerable recognition. For comparison, her contemporary
After Walker's painting Angela was featured in an 1899 exhibition of the New English Art Club, she became its first female member in 1900.[47][48]
A 1913 review noted an apparently outstanding quality of Walker's works: 'By far the most interesting painter in the present show is Miss Ethel Walker [...] Miss Walker sees delicately and paints delicately. She has made up her mind in a very definite way and expresses it without hesitation. Her work is the strongest in the gallery, and it is also the most unmistakably feminine'.[49]
From 1930 onwards, Walker held many exhibitions at the Lefevre Gallery, including: April 1931, March 1933, January–February 1935, April 1939, October 1942, and November 1949.[50][51][52][53][54][55] Walker also exhibited over a long period with The Redfern Gallery, including exhibitions in 1932 and 1952.[56][57][58]
In 1938, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, a keen collector of art, purchased Walker's At Sea on an October Morning for £750. The Queen's interest in Walker was likely influenced by her artistic mentor Jasper Ridley, whose collection included a number of works by Walker.[59]
In 1951, The Tate held a major retrospective entitled Ethel Walker, Frances Hodgkins, Gwen John: A Memorial Exhibition, organised by the Tate Director John Rothenstein, a friend of Walker's.[60] The exhibition was well received by critics, including one writing in The Spectator who impressed the significant contribution of each artist: 'It would be ungenerous to attempt to weigh the relative importance of the three women painters [...] for together they form the greater part of woman's contribution to British painting in this century'.[61]
As of 2008, women artists constituted only 10% of the Tate collection. Of these, Walker is one of a select few represented by numerous works.[62]
In 2017, Walker's large work Decoration: The Excursion of Nausicaa was included in the Tate Britain exhibition Queer British Art 1861-1967.[63][64]
15 paintings by Walker were selected for exhibition by Piano Nobile at Frieze Masters, the pre-2000 arm of the renowned Frieze Art Fair. Notable works of the display included Decoration: Evening (1936).[65]
Further reading
- T. W. Earp (et al.), Ethel Walker, Frances Hodgkins, and Gwen John: A Memorial Exhibition ( London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1952)
- B. L. Pearce, Dame Ethel Walker: An Essay in Reassessment (Exeter, England: Stride Publications, 1997)
References
- ^ ISBN 9780748626601.
- ^ ISBN 9780823030712.
- ^ a b Greer, Germaine (20 June 2010). "Paula Rego is the fourth woman painter to be made a dame. I wish she'd refused". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ^ Wullschlager, Jackie. "Queer Art At Tate Britain". Financial Times. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
- ^ ISBN 9780719042430.
- ISBN 9781573448741.
- ^ Bedworth, Candy (22 August 2019). "Dame Ethel Walker – A Sensitive Portrait". Daily Art Magazine. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
- ISBN 9781797220383. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
- ISBN 9781134834587. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
- ^ Bilton, Dominic. ""(re)remembered and celebrated"". British Art Network. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
- OCLC 662407525.
- ^ ISBN 9781573448741. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36689. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b c d e "Profile: Ethel Walker". glbtq.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
- ^ "Dame Ethel Walker: painter with a full range of subjects". The Times. 3 March 1951. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
- ISBN 978-1-906270-89-6.
- ^ "Bridgeman Images". Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
- ^ Profile Archived 2007-03-11 at the Wayback Machine, contemporaryartgalleryscotland.net; accessed 15 June 2015.
- ^ "Ethel Walker, A.R.A." Royal Academy. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
- ^ National Art-Collections Fund Review. National Art Collections Fund. 1995. p. 147. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
- ^ "Lucien Pissarro". Art UK. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
- ^ a b "Portrait of a Woman with a Yellow Scarf, ca. 1930s ?". Royal Academy. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ^ "The Countess of Strathcona". Museum of New Zealand. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ^ "Miss Jean Werner Laurie". Tate. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
- ^ "Leo Walmsley by Dame Ethel Walker (1861 - 1951)". Pannett Art Gallery. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
- ^ "Portrait of Flora Robson, ca. 1933-34". Royal Academy. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
- ISBN 9781900152259.
- ^ Kennedy, Maev (11 May 2015). "Early portrait of sculptor Barbara Hepworth donated to Wakefield gallery". Guardian. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ^ "176: [Milne, A.A.]--Walker, Dame Ethel". Sotheby's. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
- ^ "Christopher Robin. Attrib to Dame Ethel WALKER (1861-1951) Portrait of Christopher Robin, Oil on can". Burstow & Hewett. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
- ^ "Settlement and building: Artists and Chelsea Pages 102-106 A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 12, Chelsea". British History Online. Victoria County History, 2004. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
- ISBN 9781134834587. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
- ISBN 9789811557057. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
- ^ Kenyon, Justine (July–August 1992). "History: In Pursuit of Heaven: Ethel Walker (1861-1951)". Women's Art Magazine. 47: 17.
- ISBN 9780151256020. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ISBN 9780701204693. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
- ^ "Vanessa". Tate. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ^ Kenyon, Justine (July–August 1992). "History: In Pursuit of Heaven: Ethel Walker (1861-1951)". Women's Art Magazine. 47: 17.
- ISBN 9781900357142. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ^ Hall, Douglas (7 February 1998). "Obituary: Marian Kratochwil". Independent.
- ^ "Ethel Walker, 1861 - 1951. Artist. (On her death-bed)". National Galleries of Scotland. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ^ "Marian Kratochwil". National Galleries of Scotland. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ISBN 9781904537663. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ISBN 9780905634036. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
- ^ National Art-Collections Fund Review. National Art-Collections Fund. 1995. p. 147. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
- ISBN 9780500777374. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
- ISBN 9781134834587. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
- ISBN 9780823030712. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
- ISBN 9789811557057. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
- ^ Catalogue of Oil Paintings by Ethel Walker. London: Alex Reid and Lefevre Ltd. 1931.
- ^ Catalogue of Recent Paintings and Drawings by Ethel Walker. London: Alex Reid and Lefevre Ltd. 1933.
- ^ Catalogue of Recent Paintings by Ethel Walker. London: Alex Reid and Lefevre Ltd. 1935.
- ^ Ethel Walker: New Paintings. London: Alex Reid and Lefevre Ltd. 1939.
- ^ Recent Paintings by Ethel Walker C.B.E. London: Alex Reid and Lefevre Ltd. 1942.
- ^ Paintings by Dame Ethel Walker, Drawings by Augustus John, Selected Works by French XX Century Masters. London: Alex Reid and Lefevre Ltd. 1949.
- ISBN 9781136599019. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
- ^ Recent Oils by R.O. Dunlop, Ethel Walker... [et al.] and a Collection by the Late Derwent Lees: Also a Selection of the Last Spirit Pictures by the Late Charles Sims. London: Redfern Gallery. 1932.
- ^ Osbert Lancaster, Richard Eurich, Alan Reynolds, Ethel Walker, Derwent Lees. London: Redfern Gallery. 1952.
- ISBN 9781448150724. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
- ISBN 9781136599019. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
- ^ "The Spectator". No. 188. 4 January 1954. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
- ISBN 9781405148825. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
- ^ Bunyan, Dr. Marcus (24 September 2017). "Review: 'Queer British Art 1861-1967' at Tate Britain, London". Art Blart. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
- ^ "A Queer Little History of Art: The Excursion of Nausicaa". Tate. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
- ^ "'Modern Women' Reframes Art History at Frieze Masters 2023". Frieze. 18 August 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
External links
- 107 artworks by or after Ethel Walker at the Art UK site