Sunday 3rd December - Beatrice Gibbs (1863-1936)

 Well, we are cracking along now, and today's lady actually has a photograph!  Say hello to Beatrice Alice Gibbs...

I give my undying thanks to whoever was offering the newspaper clipping from 1896 about Beatrice on eBay because I like being able to see these women and put a face to the art. It also helped fill in some information about her which would otherwise be lost in the mists of time.  So, who is this charming lady artist?

Beatrice was born on 1 October 1863 in Kings Norton (or Edgbaston, depending who you ask) in the Midlands, to Clement (1832-1904) and Marianne (1836-1928). By 1871, the Gibbs had moved to London, to Belsize Square in Hampstead, so they were obviously not badly off. Clement was an 'agent and merchant' which is rather euphemistic, but the general idea was that he could send his dozen children off to art school if he wanted.  Yes, Beatrice was one of around twelve siblings that stretched from Marianne, born in 1856 to Walter, born 20 years later. By my calculations, Mrs Gibbs started having kids at 20 and finally had enough by 40, which sounds exhausting. I wondered if it was because they suffered a lot of losses but as far as I can see, only two of the siblings didn’t live past thirty.  Even worse is that they only seem to have had a couple of live-in servants. Blimey.

Beatrice went to the St John's School of Art, or 'Calderon's' as it was known at the time, where she prepared to go to the Royal Academy. She took the RA entrance exam and passed with flying colours and progressed rapidly, being allowed access to the 'upper life' painting room only twelve months later.  Despite being a student at the Royal Academy, her 1881 census record has her occupation as the 'daughter of a stockbroker' which I didn't know was a career.  Beatrice's RA debut was in 1888 with Friar Pacificus accompanied with these lines from The Golden Legend - 'Thus I have laboured on and on.' It was a half-length study of a monk and had been completed while Beatrice was still at the RA school and attracted attention leading to commissions to paint portraits including Sir Percy Anderson, Lady Boston and the improbably named Mrs Slingsby Bethell.  The only one that seems to be in a public collection is this one...

William Cudworth (1896)

Mr Cudworth, 81 years old, was an engineer for the Stockton and Darlington Railway and North Eastern Railway.  This sadly is the only colour image of hers I can find which is a shame as Beatrice exhibited another portrait, this time of Lord Claud Hamilton at the Liverpool Autumn exhibition of pictures which was declared 'a capital likeness' by the Manchester Courier (although the Women's Gazette and Weekly News found it 'somewhat academic' which I think is meant to be a bad thing.) 

She exhibited Kingsbury Churchyard in the 1890 Royal Academy, followed by The Dancing Girl the year after.  In 1893 she showed Righteousness and Peace Have Kissed Each Other which I would dearly love to see as that is a proper Byam Shaw title. It apparently was a large canvas and was hung in the third room, which I understand is a very advantageous position to have.  She also exhibited Preparing for the Feast of Flora at the Exhibition of South Wales Art Society in Cardiff, which according to the South Wales Daily News was 'finely conceived and executed with marked care and skill.' We are lucky enough to have an image of her 1894 picture Psyche Mourning for Cupid...

This piece was praised in the Derby Daily Telegraph as being 'chiefly noticeable for its charming lamp-light effect.' It was also hung in the prestigious third room 'by reason of its skillful execution and pleasant colour' according to one critic. We can also see Beatrice's 1895 painting Paradise and the Peri...

This was very popular appearing in Black and White magazine's pictures of the year, and the Gentlewoman's pick of pictures from the Royal Academy. It was bought by the Art Union of London.  Despite the popularity of both pictures (hence their inclusion in the Royal Academy picture supplement) they did not get wide-spread mention in the newspaper, which is a shame. The same thing is true of the 1896 offering, The Pink Veil, which has an intriguing title and cannot now be seen anywhere but was apparently a study of a single figure and found an immediate purchaser.

Mention from thereon is patchy as Miss Gibbs seems to have stopped exhibiting at the Royal Academy but continued elsewhere.  Her watercolours for an exhibition at the Baillie Gallery in 1905 were praised by the Morning Post - 'The watercolours of Miss Beatrice Gibbs form pleasant little records of figures and landscape which have not called for much serious effort, but which gain a certain attraction from their lightness of method.'  Likewise, The Queen magazine remarked on the exhibition room that held Beatrice, H Law Woodward and Julia Creamer - three sympathetic spirits whose work is characterised by nice feeling and a sincerity that elevates their slightest sketch.'

I have had trouble finding much more about Beatrice and her work, with the last mention I can find in the Queen in 1913.  Beatrice exhibited a portrait entitled Jane at the National Portrait Society's 2nd annual exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery. I was struck by the confidence of that newspaper piece that had her photograph on it from 1896.  The last paragraph has such optimism...

'Although Miss Gibbs has proven beyond all doubt her capacity as a painter of subject pictures, she is now devoting most of her time to portraiture, and as she is possessed of a facile brush, and great power in grasping the salient characteristics of her sitters, it is only natural that she should succeed equally well in this branch of art. In the case of Miss Gibbs, fortunately, untiring industry and a thorough technical training supplement natural talent, and it is probable that, good as her past works have been, they are but the earnest of still better things to come.'

Beatrice died in 1936, leaving £1793 and there was sadly no discernible notice in the newspapers. She is another woman who, despite untiring industry and natural talent was forgotten immediately.  It's time to remember.