Lilla Minnie Perry (10 June 1888 – 30 August 1974) was an Irish

landscape painter Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction in painting of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a cohe ...

Early life and family

Lilla Minnie Perry was born Lilla Minnie Bagwell on 10 June 1888 at Marlfield House, Clonmel, County Tipperary. She was the youngest child of

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

and

Harriet Bagwell Harriet Bagwell (; –1937) was an Irish philanthropist and promoter of local cottage industry. Life Harriet Bagwell was born Harriet Philippa Jocelyn Newton around 1853 in Dunleckney Manor, Bagenalstown, County Carlow. She was the eldest chi ...

(née Newton). She was raised at Marlfield House, living there until she married a captain in the merchant navy, John Perry (1875–1965) on 4 October 1915. They went on to have three sons and one daughter, Mary Lilla. They lived at the Perry estate, Newcastle, County Tipperary until it was burnt by

republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

in June 1921. After this they lived at a property neighbouring Marlfield, Birdhill. Perry died at Marlfield on 30 August 1974.

Artistic career

It has been assumed that Perry received some amount of formal art training, and she spent a few months in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

as a young woman, but largely she appears to have been self-taught. She worked almost exclusively in

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

, and exhibited regularly with the

Water Colour Society of Ireland Water Colour Society of Ireland (WCSI) is a watercolour society in Ireland, founded in 1870. The Society held its first exhibition in the Courthouse, Lismore, County Waterford, Lismore, County Waterford in May 1871. History The ''Water Colour So ...

(WCSI) from 1908 to 1970. She showed over 100 works with the WCSI, initially as Lilla Bagwell, and later under her married name. In 1909 she exhibited with the London Salon for the first time, and was included in exhibitions at 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 ...

, London in 1911/1912. She painted all her life, put her most prolific period was in the 1920s and 1930s. From 1927 to 1930, Perry exhibited five works at the

Royal Hibernian Academy The Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823. Like many other Irish institutions, such as the Royal Irish Academy, the academy retained the word "Royal" after mo ...

. She also showed with the Munster Fine Art Club in 1933 and the Ulster Academy of Arts, Belfast in 1937. Her subjects were consistently gardens, trees and rivers, mostly scenes from her home at Birdhill, but also from around Clonmel. Over time her style developed, from muted colours and attention to close detail in her early work, to looser brushwork and a brighter palette. Her ''Kilmanahan castle near Clonmel'' was included at the centenary exhibition of the WCSI in 1970. The majority of her work is held in private collections, with the South Tipperary County Museum, Clonmel holding ''Knocklofty bridge'' (1940) and ''Clonmel and the River Suir'' (1931).

References

External links

* Works by Lilla Perry as part of th
Cuala Press Collection
located at Trinity College Dublin Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Lilla Minnie 1888 births 1974 deaths People from Clonmel 20th-century Irish women artists Artists from County Carlow