Gertrude Anna Bertha Hermes (18 August 1901 – 9 May 1983) was a British
wood-engraver
Wood engraving is a printmaking technique, in which an artist works an image or ''matrix'' of images into a block of wood. Functionally a variety of woodcut, it uses relief printing, where the artist applies ink to the face of the block and ...
and sculptor. Hermes was a member of the English Wood Engraving Society (1925–31) and exhibited with the
Society of Wood Engravers
The Society of Wood Engravers (SWE) is a UK-based artists’ exhibiting society, formed in 1920, one of its founder-members being Eric Gill. It was originally restricted to artist-engravers printing with oil-based inks in a press, distinct from ...
, the
Royal Academy
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 ...
and
The London Group
The London Group is a society based in London, England, created to offer additional exhibiting opportunities to artists besides the Royal Academy of Arts. Formed in 1913, it is one of the oldest artist-led organisations in the world. It was form ...
during the 1930s.
Life
Gertrude Anna Bertha Hermes was born on 18 August 1901 in
Bickley
Bickley is a district and a local government electoral ward in South East London, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is located 10.4 miles (16.7 km) south east of Charing Cross, bordering Elmstead to the north, Chislehurst to the no ...
, Kent. Her parents, Louis August Hermes and Helene, ''née'' Gerdes, were from
Altena
Altena (; Westphalian: ''Altenoa'') is a town in the district of Märkischer Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town's castle is the origin for the later Dukes of Berg. Altena is situated on the Lenne river valley, in the northern stre ...
, near
Dortmund
Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...
, Germany.James Hamilton (2004) Hermes, Gertrude Anna Bertha (1901–1983) ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Oxford University Press. Retrieved January 2014. In about 1921 she attended the Beckenham School of Art, and in 1922 enrolled at Leon Underwood's Brook Green School of Painting and Sculpture, where other students included
Eileen Agar
Eileen Forrester Agar (1 December 1899 – 17 November 1991) was a British-Argentinian painter and photographer associated with the Surrealist movement.
Biography
Agar was born in Buenos Aires, to a Scottish father and American mother. Her fat ...
,
Raymond Coxon
Raymond James Coxon (18 August 1896 – 31 January 1997) was a British artist. He enrolled at the Leeds School of Art, the Royal College of Art, and became a teacher in the Richmond School of Art. The creative work of his long and successful ...
,
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Mo ...
and
Blair Hughes-Stanton
Blair Rowlands Hughes-Stanton (22 February 1902 – 6 June 1981) was a major figure in the English wood-engraving revival in the twentieth century. He was the son of the artist Sir Herbert Hughes-Stanton. He exhibited with the Society of Wood ...
, whom she married in 1926; they separated in 1931, and were divorced in 1933.
Hermes was a contributor to the short-lived publication, ''Island'' (1931) that was edited by Joseph Bard. She was also a commissioned illustrator for
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.
Hermes exhibited regularly at the
Royal Academy
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 ...
from 1934, and showed at the Venice International Exhibition in 1939. In 1937, Hermes produced a commission for the British Pavilion at the Paris World Fair. She lived and worked in the US and Canada from 1940 to 1945. On her return to England she taught wood engraving and linocutting at the
Central School of Art
The Central School of Art and Design was a public school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Cr ...
in London (now Central St Martin's) in the late 1940s to early '50s. She also took a drawing class to
London Zoo
London Zoo, also known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study. In 1831 or 1832, ...
. She taught wood and lino block printing at the Royal Academy Schools, from 1966.
In 1949, Hermes was elected an associate of the
Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers
The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE), known until 1991 as the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, is a leading art institution based in London, England. The Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, as it was originally styled, w ...
. She was elected
Associate of the Royal Academy
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 purpo ...
in 1963 and a full
Royal Academician
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 purp ...
in 1971. In 1961, she was awarded first prize in the Giles Bequest competition at the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
for her linocut ''Stonehenge''. She was appointed an OBE in 1981.
Her work is in many public collections including the
Tate
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 the National Portrait Gallery. Her work was also in private collections including a c1926 bronze "Swallow" door knocker in the collection of
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
.
Hermes suffered severe stroke in 1969 that meant she was unable to work. She died in Bristol in 1983.
Notable works
* ''Spring bouquet'', 1929, wood engraving
* ''Leda and the Swan'', 1932, sculpture
* ''The warrior's tomb'', 1941, wood engraving
* ''Bat and Spider'', 1932, wood engraving
* ''Other Cats and Henry'', 1952, wood engraving
* ''Kathleen Raine'', 1954, sculpture
* ''Peacock'', 1961, bronze sculpture, for Ordsall High School in
Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
Miss Gertrude Anna Bertha Hermes OBE ''Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851–1951''. University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011. Retrieved January 2014.
Exhibitions
* 1967 Bronzes and Carvings, Drawings, Wood Engravings, Wood and Lino Block Cuts, 1924–1967 Whitechapel Art Gallery
* 2008 North House Gallery
* 2015 - 2016 ''Wild Girl: Gertrude Hermes'' The Hepworth Wakefield. First UK retrospective of Hermes's work in 30 years.