Edith Lawrence | |
---|---|
Born | Edith Mary Lawrence 22 March 1890
Walton-on-Thames,
Surrey, England |
Died | 2 October 1973
Salisbury, Wiltshire, England | (aged 83)
Education | Slade School of Art |
Known for | Painting, print-making |
Edith Mary Lawrence (22 March 1890 – 2 October 1973) was a British artist known for her landscape and portrait paintings, her colour linocuts and her textile designs.
Lawrence was born in Walton-on-Thames in Surrey and was the youngest daughter of George Adams Lawrence the owner of a grocery store in central London. [1] She attended Queen's College, London until 1908 and then studied at the Slade School of Art in London between 1910 and 1914. [2] At the Slade, Lawrence was a prize winning student, gaining first-class certificates for both painting and drawing. [3] In 1917 she first exhibited paintings at both the Royal Academy and with the New English Art Club. [2] Also in 1917 Lawrence began teaching art at Runston Hill School. [2] In 1922 Lawrence met the painter and linocut artist Claude Flight and the two became lifelong companions. [4] After living at his studio in St John's Wood for a time, the couple set up a new studio in 1927 off Baker Street from where they run an interior decoration business and produced murals, textiles and decorative household objects. [1] Lawrence also exhibited on a regular basis throughout the 1930s at both the Ward and Redfern galleries. [4] During her career Lawrence also exhibited with the Society of Women Artists, the National Portrait Society and with the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-colours. [3] A joint exhibition of Lawrence and Flight's work was held at the Embroiderer's Guild in 1937 and they wrote and illustrated three books for children together. [1] In June Lawrence and Flight moved to a village in Wiltshire but retained their London studio which was subsequently destroyed in the Blitz. [1]
Lawrence nursed Flight from 1947, when he suffered a stroke, until his death in 1955. [1] By then Lawrence's eye-sight was failing but a cataract operation allowed her to continue painting. [1] A career retrospective of Lawrence's work was held at the University of Hull in the summer of 1973 and a memorial exhibition in her honour was held at the Parkin Gallery in London later that year, following her death at a nursing home in Salisbury. [1]