Annie Louisa Swynnerton,

ARA ARA may refer to: Media and the arts * American-Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences * '' Artistička Radna Akcija'', compilation album released in former Yugoslavia * Associate of the Royal Academy, denoting membership in the British Royal Acad ...

( Robinson; 26 February 1844 – 24 October 1933) was a British painter best known for her

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this ...

and

symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

works. She studied at

Manchester School of Art Manchester School of Art in Manchester, England, was established in 1838 as the Manchester School of Design. It is the second oldest art school in the United Kingdom after the Royal College of Art which was founded the year before. It is now par ...

and at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number ...

, before basing herself in the artistic community in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

with her husband, the monumental sculptor Joseph Swynnerton. Swynnerton was influenced by George Frederic Watts and Sir

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman ...

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...

appreciated her work and helped her to become the first elected woman member at the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

in 1922. Swynnerton painted portraits of

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

and Millicent Fawcett. Her main public collection of works are in

Manchester Art Gallery Manchester Art Gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupies three ...

, but individual works are also held in a few other English cities, as well as can also be seen in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, and two in

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metr ...

. Annie was a close friend of leading

suffragists Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

of the day, notably the Pankhurst family.

Early life

Annie Louisa Robinson was born in

Hulme Hulme () is an inner city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England, immediately south of Manchester city centre. It has a significant industrial heritage. Historically in Lancashire, the name Hulme is derived from the Old Norse word ...

, Manchester in 1844. Her parents were Francis Robinson, a solicitor, and Ann Sanderson. Swynnerton had six sisters. She made and sold

watercolours Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

to supplement the family's income during a difficult financial period. Her sisters Julia and Emily also studied at

, recorded as being prize-winning students in The Manchester Guardian in 1873 (24 Dec, p8.)

Education

Swynnerton trained at the

, beginning in 1871. She won a gold prize and a scholarship for an oil and watercolour painting. From 1874 to 1876, she studied in Rome along with her friend and fellow artist,

Susan Isabel Dacre Susan Isabel Dacre (1844–1933), known as Isabel Dacre, was an English artist of the Victorian era. Biography She was born in Leamington, Warwickshire, and was educated at a convent school in Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford. For the ...

. The women then studied at the

in Paris from 1877 to 1880. Swynnerton was influenced by the works of

Jules Bastien-Lepage Jules Bastien-Lepage (1 November 1848 – 10 December 1884) was a French painter closely associated with the beginning of naturalism, an artistic style that emerged from the later phase of the Realist movement. His most famous work is his land ...

. She lived in Manchester in 1880 and by 1882 was living in London.

Artist

Style

Annie painted portraits, figures, symbolist works and landscapes. George Frederic Watts and Sir

were supporters of her career. According to Linda Murray, "She was much influenced by Watts, and many of her subjects were of the allegorical or symbolic type which was his forte. Her drawing was solid, and she had a sculptural grasp of form allied to fresh, broken colour displaying affinities with

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...

. The catalogue for the Tate exhibition "Exposed. The Victorian Nude" states that "Rome based Annie Swynnerton was one of the most daring female painters of the nude, often shocking audiences with her robustly painted figures". File:Watts-Paolo and Francesca.jpg, George Frederic Watts, ''Paolo and Francesca'' File:Annie Swynnerton Cupid And Psyche 1891.jpg, Annie Louisa Swynnerton, ''Cupid and Psyche'', 1890,

Gallery Oldham Gallery Oldham is a free-to-view public museum and art gallery in the Cultural Quarter of central Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. Design Designed by architects Pringle Richards Sharratt, Gallery Oldham was completed in its original for ...

File:Swynnerton The sense of Sight.jpg, Annie Louisa Swynnerton, ''The Sense of Sight'', oil on canvas, 1895,

National Museums Liverpool National Museums Liverpool, formerly National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool, England. All the museums and galleries in the group have free admission. The museum is a non ...

File:Edward Burne-Jones Sidonia von Bork.jpg, Edward Burne-Jones, ''

Sidonia von Borcke Sidonia von Borcke (1548–1620) was a Pomeranian noblewoman who was tried and executed for witchcraft in the city of Stettin (today Szczecin, Poland). In posthumous legends, she is depicted as a ''femme fatale'', and she has entered English lit ...

'', 1860 Swynnerton's works incorporated aspects of

Neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism ...

Pre-Raphaelitism The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

and

. ''The Magazine of Art'' described one of her works, " highly imaginative design by wynnertonis ''Mater Triumphalis''. The limbs of the figure are somewhat heavy in outline, whilst there is a certain metallic appearance in the colouring that is quite apart from the idea of the flowing life-blood in a human body." She was also adept at painting children. File:Annie Swynnerton - The Young Mother.jpg, ''The Young Mother'', File:Annie Louisa Swynnerton Illusions.jpg, ''Illusions'', oil on canvas, 1900,

Manchester City Art Gallery Manchester Art Gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupies three ...

File:Annie-Louise Swynnerton - Hope.jpg, ''New Risen Hope'', 1904

Career

Dacre and Swynnerton shared a studio. In 1879, the two women founded the Manchester Society of Women Painters, which offered art education and exhibitions. Emily Robinson was also a member. Swynnerton painted Dacre's portrait, which was exhibited in 1880 at the

. It was given to Manchester Art Gallery by the sitter in 1932. She was the second woman to sit on the Liverpool Autumn Exhibition hanging committee in 1895. Swynnerton painted portraits of members of the Garrett family, including Agnes Garrett, Dame

Millicent Garrett Fawcett Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (née Garrett; 11 June 1847 – 5 August 1929) was an English politician, writer and feminist. She campaigned for Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, women's suffrage by Law reform, legal change and in 1897– ...

, which was purchased by the

Chantrey Bequest Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable w ...

for the nation and is at the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

, and

Louisa Garrett Anderson Louisa Garrett Anderson, CBE (28 July 1873 – 15 November 1943) was a medical pioneer, a member of the Women's Social and Political Union, a suffragette, and social reformer. She was the daughter of the founding medical pioneer Elizabeth Gar ...

. She painted portraits of people close to the Garretts, including

and Rev.

William Gaskell William Gaskell (24 July 1805 – 12 June 1884) was an English Unitarian minister, charity worker and pioneer in the education of the working class. The husband of novelist and biographer Elizabeth Gaskell, he was himself a writer and poet, and ...

, husband of novelist

Elizabeth Gaskell Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (''née'' Stevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many st ...

. Dame

Ethel Smyth Dame Ethel Mary Smyth (; 22 April 18588 May 1944) was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral works, choral works and operas. Smyth tended t ...

was a patron to Swynnerton.

made a painting of Swynnerton and Smyth's sister, Mrs. Charles Hunter. File:Annie Swynnerton - Rev William Gaskell.jpg, '' Rev William Gaskell'', 1879 File:Annie Swynnerton - Susan Isabel Dacre.jpg, Susan Isabel Dacre, 1880 File:Annie Swynnerton, Henry James.jpg, ''

'', by 1922 File:Anne Louise Swynnerton, Dame Millicent Fawcett, CBE, LLD, Tate.jpg, '' Dame Millicent Fawcett, CBE, LLD, Tate'', by 1930 With an initial introduction by Burne-Jones, Swynnerton exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1879 to 1886 and then 1902 to 1934. John Singer Sargent appreciated and purchased her work. He gave the nation ''The Oreads'' made by Swynnerton. He was instrumental in her election in 1922 to become the first female associate of the Royal Academy since the 18th century and the first woman to be elected into the organisation. Swynnerton's work was also exhibited at other national and international exhibitions, including

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence i ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. In 1893, ''Florence Nightingale at Scutari'' was shown at Women's Exhibition at the Chicago World's Exposition. According to Hellary Fraser, author of ''Women Writing Art History in the Nineteenth Century'', the work showed the manner with which women artists could convey tender feeling with strong artistic composition and colour. Swynnerton was included in the 2018 exhibit ''Women in Paris 1850–1900''.

Suffragism

She was an active supporter of the

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

movement of the time, and was a signatory to the 1889

National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies The National Union of Women Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), also known as the ''suffragists'' (not to be confused with the suffragettes) was an organisation founded in 1897 of women's suffrage societies around the United Kingdom. In 1919 it was ren ...

' Declaration in Favour of Women's Suffrage.

Personal life

She met sculptor Joseph William Swynnerton, from the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = " O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europ ...

, possibly while the two were both living in Rome. They married in 1883 and lived primarily in Rome and had a studio in Sheppard's Bush in London. The Swynnertons were married until 1910, when he died. Swynnerton's eyesight deteriorated in her later years. Following her husband's death, she lived in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, London and Rome, before finally settling on

Hayling Island Hayling Island is an island off the south coast of England, in the borough of Havant in the county of Hampshire, east of Portsmouth. History An Iron Age shrine in the north of Hayling Island was later developed into a Roman temple in the 1s ...

, England. She died there in 1933. There was a posthumous sale of the contents of her former studio, removed from 1A The Avenue, 76 Fulham Road, London, SW3 at Christie's in London on 9 February 1934.Christie's, London, 9 February 1934, lots 56–179A. This included her own work (both finished and unfinished), her small collection of pictures by Old Masters (including Guercino and Moroni) together with frames and easels. In her will, and in memory of Susan Isabel Dacre, she left a bequest to Francis Dodd, an artist. Swynnerton was described as follows:

Collections

Notes

References

External links

*
AnnieLouisaSwynnerton.com
A web collection of all the known works of Annie Louisa Swynnerton for which images can be found.

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Swynnerton, Annie 1844 births 1933 deaths 19th-century English painters 20th-century English painters 19th-century English women artists 20th-century English women artists Artists from Manchester Associates of the Royal Academy English feminists English suffragists English women painters People from Chorlton-on-Medlock Society of Women Artists members