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.

Biography

Lawrence was born in

Walton-on-Thames Walton-on-Thames, known locally as Walton, is a market town on the bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, Thames in northwest Surrey, England. It is in the Borough of Elmbridge, about southwest of central London. Walton forms part ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

and was the youngest daughter of George Adams Lawrence the owner of a grocery store in central London. She attended

Queen's College, London Queen's College is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school for girls aged 11–18 with an adjoining prep school for girls aged 4–11 located in the City of Westminster, London. It was founded in 1848 by theologian and social ...

until 1908 and then studied at the

Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

in London between 1910 and 1914. At the Slade, Lawrence was a prize winning student, gaining first-class certificates for both painting and drawing. In 1917 she first exhibited paintings at both the

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

and with the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) is a society for contemporary artists that was founded in London, England, in 1886 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. The NEAC holds an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries ...

. Also in 1917 Lawrence began teaching art at Runston Hill School. In 1922 Lawrence met the painter and

linocut Linocut, also known as lino print, lino printing or linoleum art, is a printmaking technique, a variant of relief printing in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for a relief printing, relief surface. A design i ...

artist Claude Flight and the two became lifelong companions. After living at his studio in

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster, London, England, about 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Historically the northern part of the Civil Parish#An ...

for a time, the couple set up a new studio in 1927 off

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder James Baker. The area was originally high class residential, but now is mainly occupied by commercial premises. The street is ...

from where they run an interior decoration business and produced murals, textiles and decorative household objects. Lawrence also exhibited on a regular basis throughout the 1930s at both the Ward and Redfern galleries. During her career Lawrence also exhibited with the

Society of Women Artists The Society of Women Artists (SWA) is a British art body dedicated to celebrating and promoting fine art created by women. It was founded as the Society of Female Artists (SFA) in 1855, offering women artists the opportunity to exhibit and sell ...

, the National Portrait Society and with the

Royal Institute of Painters in Water-colours The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI), initially called the New Society of Painters in Water Colours, is one of the societies in the Federation of British Artists, based in the Mall Galleries in London. History In 1831, the ...

. 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. In June Lawrence and Flight moved to a village in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

but retained their London studio which was subsequently destroyed in the

Blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, several ships of the Prussian, Imperia ...

. Lawrence nursed Flight from 1947, when he suffered a stroke, until his death in 1955. By then Lawrence's eye-sight was failing but a cataract operation allowed her to continue painting. A career retrospective of Lawrence's work was held at the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

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 Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Edith 1890 births 1973 deaths 20th-century English women artists Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art People educated at Queen's College, London People from Walton-on-Thames Women lithographers 20th-century British lithographers Linocut artists